


Don't Wanna Go

by Caspinn, kalkoenvsneoklak



Series: Sweet Child of Mine [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dying Peter Parker, F/M, M/M, Multi, Sick Peter Parker, Superfamily, Time Travel, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-05-20 16:28:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14898024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caspinn/pseuds/Caspinn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalkoenvsneoklak/pseuds/kalkoenvsneoklak
Summary: Tony Stark has found a bit of stability in his life, and he figures he's relatively happy. Peter's doing wonderfully at school, Steve still tells him he loves him at least twice a day, and he's as healthy as he can get. Things go wrong, though, when Peter arrives home with the news that he's not feeling so good.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read Being a Stark or Something About Peter yet, you'll probably not really be able to follow everything that's happening in this short story.
> 
> It's taken a while for me to realize it, but I came to the understanding that I never really explained how it was that Mary knew she had to swap the bloodsamples as she explained in the journals. So, in this story, here's kind of an explanation to that. 
> 
>  
> 
> On the matter of time-travel, this is probably one big mess, but I figure everything regarding time-travel is messy as hell. Also, I saw the new Deadpool movie yesterday, and it gave me an opportunity I couldn't miss.  
> So far it's only the prologue. See it as some sort of teaser, perhaps! I'm getting to writing the next 5 chapters right away, of course. 
> 
> Prologue warnings:  
> \- slight depressive thoughts, mention of suicidal thoughts.  
> \- existential crisis

What is the purpose of life?

That’s probably one of the biggest, unanswered questions in the world. Why are we alive? What is the point?

Tony Stark, for a long time, described that question with one simple answer: To suffer. There’s no point in life but to suffer. If you think about it, the concept of life, the concept of time… it all just doesn’t matter, does it?

He’s lived quite a life, if he has to say so himself. People often tell him that he has nothing to complain, that he’s had life handed to him on a golden platter or whatever else it is that people say about him. And in a big part he agrees with those people.

He’s never had money to run out of. Never had to worry about having food in the fridge, having a bed to sleep in. He never even had to worry about his parents, because they barely seemed to worry about him.

Okay, maybe that’s harsh. His mother did care. His father, in a way, did too. But… for a long time, Tony believed that carrying the name ‘Stark’ was meant for being incapable of love. Or… no, we’re explaining it wrong.

Tony has tasted love. Has known his mother telling him the three words. On some extremely rare occasions, even his father uttered them out, though that was mostly whenever Tony outdid himself in something scientific or whatever.

He tasted love with Jarvis, the man who took care of him whenever his parents weren’t available, which was a lot. Peggy loved him, too, and so did Daniel and their children. Tony’s little family. Once upon a time, when he was really, _really_ small, he thinks Natasha might have loved him, too.

He thought he had been loved by Obediah. Turns out that wasn’t exactly what he’d hoped for. Rhodey, though… he was someone he could lean on whenever things were bad. He was the one who had Tony’s back, who took care of him whenever life turned out to be too heavy for him. Then came Mary. Kind, sweet, smart Mary. She had been beautiful, reminding him of the bright colors of autumn with her dark brown hair and those brown eyes. She had been around his age, had her own little quirks that came with her, such as never wanting to wear high heels as they always gave her blisters, or unintentionally making Tony fall in love with her.

And that’s true. He did love her. She must have been the first person in Tony’s life that made him think: ‘I want to share my life with them’. But it wasn’t meant to be. She took off, and Tony took the shortcut to a rehabilitation center when he realized that death sounded better than having to wake up alone one more time.

And he got himself sorted out. He met Pepper, went back to inventing, fell in love with Pepper, actually dated Pepper. Life had ended up being much better after a while.

He likes to think that there are a bunch of people out there that love him, now. Steve, he’s sure of. The guy tells him every day before they go to sleep, and each time they wake up. The rest of the team… well, they’ve never particularly spoken out the words, but neither has Tony, really. They care about each other to a point where Tony might figure he’s loved as much as he loves the team in return.

But the best part of love, he finds, is in Peter. His beautiful, wonderful, incredibly smart twenty-year-old son who is too good for anybody in this world with a heart as pure as gold and a soul shining so bright despite all the hits it’s taken. Out of all the people that Tony loves, he knows that Peter could be the only one who would make him do something incredibly stupid if anything would ever happen to him.

Which is kind of why he’s here, isn’t it? Though, where is here?

Maybe we should start from the beginning.


	2. I don't feel so good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So writing's been slow these past few days because I got the game 'Detroit: Become Human' since Monday and have finished it 3 times already since then. I'm insanely inspired by the story, it's crazy!  
> Anyway, here we go. Timetravel is the weirdest concept to write about, given the fact that it's practically impossible and too many theories have already been made of it. I've chosen to ignore most of it, instead using mostly the technology Deadpool 2 has given us.

Tony feels a headache coming up.

It’s not one of those headaches that comes when he hasn’t had enough water in his system, or when his brain is going in overdrive. It’s more of the silently suffering kind of headache that comes because of the people surrounding him.

“I’m sorry, or not really, but there’s _no_ way that I’m making a flying toaster that delivers the toast to people’s plates,” Tony mutters out, rubbing his fingers over his forehead. “It’s a bad idea, which means a lot coming from the biggest source of bad ideas.”

Pepper’s not giving him her annoyed glare, which probably means that she’s agreeing with him here. Good, because he would have seriously doubted her sanity if she’d actually gone with their idea.

“Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Stark, but many people have shown interest in-“

“I don’t care,” Tony returns. “If I have to give the people what they want all the time, I should better just go back to making weapons. Some things are just not supposed to be made, especially things that require an actual AI to function.”

“The toaster would not need an AI, per se-“

Tony rolls his eyes, looking up at Todd, or Ron, or whatever his name is. He’s a greasy little guy with half his black hair missing and extremely light blue eyes that makes Tony wonder if he’s just wearing contacts.

 _“Sir, Peter would like to know if you’ll be at home this evening?”_ FRIDAY asks in his mind. That’s the good thing about Extremis, Tony figures. Or, it’s not really extremis. It’s something completely new, based off extremis. Being connected to the world, to everything electrical at all times… it makes him feel all-knowing for some reason. Especially when he can just have silent conversations with his AI inside his head without the others knowing about it.

“ _What, he’s planning to come over for the weekend?”_ he returns without opening his mouth.

“ _He is.”_

Tony smirks lightly. “ _Then I’ll be home. Tell Steve to prepare something good for dinner._ ” he answers, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. When he does, he notices the board looking at him with questioning glances.

“Oh, I didn’t hear that last part,” Tony says out loud, now this time actually earning a glare from Pepper. He ignores it, instead leaning back in his seat.

“We were just saying, Mr. Stark, that we don’t think you’re taking the company’s best interest at heart,” Klaus says. Or, Tony thinks it’s Klaus. To be fair, he hasn’t been to these types of meetings in years. He’s still not really sure what he’s doing here right now.

“Oh I’m not?” Tony asks, lifting an eyebrow. “Well, then I suppose that’s it. The end of the company. Let’s all go home, it’s over.” Tony starts getting up, noticing the even stronger glare Pepper’s throwing at him.

“ _Boss, Captain Rogers would like for me to pass along that, to quote, he can’t cook for shit and you shouldn’t expect something good_.”

Tony sits back down, throwing his feet on the table while grabbing some weird rubix-like-cube that has been sitting on the table. It’s the next form of puzzling from what the social media said. Tony figured it out in three minutes.

_“Please tell him that he shouldn’t say bad words or it’s going to be difficult for me not to walk out of this meeting, if he knows what I mean.”_

_“I would rather not pass that along.”_

“ _Scaredy-cat.”_

“Mr. Stark, I don’t think you’re seeing the big picture here,” the man with the glasses says. Or, uh, the brown glasses, since a lot of people are wearing glasses here, excluding him and Pepper. They’re both in too good health to be wearing those. “For over the past year, there have only been three new innovative creations brought into the market which are-“

“The Starkbucks coffee machine, the remote controlled windowfilters and the soundless MRI-system, yes. All of which haven’t been the easiest to make, might I remind you,” Tony interjects.

“Easy for you, we should presume,” brown-glasses points out. Tony gives the man a quick stare before smirking.

“Fair enough. What do you want, though? For me to create complete bullshit like a toaster? Don’t you guys remember the reaction we got when the Starkbucks came out?”

He remembers.

“I think that reaction was mostly due to the name,” the blonde woman says, picking at her own glasses. She’s wearing blue ones, and her lips are bright red. Not the same red as Pepper or Aunty Peggy used to have, so obviously Tony hates the color.

“The name was brilliant,” Tony defends himself.

“It really wasn’t,” Pepper assures him. “Listen, Tony, people of the board. We should all just get to the point; you want Tony to invent more. Good, I want that, too. But I think we first should think of the reason as to why there haven’t been as many things coming out in the past year, no?”

Tony leans back in his chair, only barely glancing at Pepper through the corners of his eyes. Is he imagining things, or is he noticing a ring there? On her left hand? She didn’t have that yesterday when he saw her, right? He can’t recall.

“It’s because Mr. Stark is too busy playing around in that flying suit of his that he forgets that he has a company under his name,” brown-glasses points out.

“Please, I’ve barely been on the field lately,” Tony mutters out, tapping on the table while he looks down at the puzzle-cube he had been toying with. Looks like he figured it out again. “A lot of new heroes around lately, Iron Man’s not needed as much, anymore.”

And that’s a good thing, he thinks. It gives him time to work more behind the scenes on the team rather than at the front. To help out as _Tony Stark_ , rather than Iron Man. He remembers telling Steve that he was thinking of cutting down on the action – not completely, but just a little bit. Steve had respected his decision, and even stepped back from his role as the leader of the team. Now, the current team of Avengers is being led by Carol, who is doing a marvelous job at it, pun absolutely intended.

“ _FRI, can you also ask Peter if he’s bringing along that girlfriend of his? Wouldn’t want to think she’s afraid of us, after all_.”

“Be as it may, Mr. Stark, it is obvious that your priorities are elsewhere. And that is acceptable, but we still need you to throw us a bone here. At least hire some new engineers, of stimulate the current ones to think out of the box. Or perhaps it’s time to think about letting your son-“

“My son stays out of this,” Tony suddenly returns, feeling his hands ball into fists almost immediately.

“We know you don’t want to give him the burdens that rested on your shoulders at his age, but with his youth he might actually bring in some interesting stuff,” Blondie points out.

“I don’t care. My son is currently busy getting his second and third degree at the same time. I’m not distracting him from his studies because the company wants ‘some youth brought back into it’.” Tony does the airquotes as he speaks.

“ _Sir, Peter has asked me to inform you that he will not be bringing Miss Hardy along to family dinner.”_

“ _Tell him he can’t hide her from us forever,”_ Tony quickly tells FRIDAY.

“Well then, Mr. Stark, what else do you suggest?” Tony leans back, sighing softly. To be fair, he can understand their point of view. He got the whole R&D-team to help him develop that soundless MRI, which has been quite the invention of the decennia according to a lot of doctors – _decennia_ , who even says that anymore?

“I suggest you bring in some more interns, for starters. A couple of young, innovative minds, a few extra hands along with it. See what they can figure out.”

It’s Pepper who spoke. Tony gives her a long look.

“We have interns,” Tony points out.

“We need more than three of them, Tony. We have enough people that are prepared to evaluate their progress, you won’t even have to be much of a part of it.”

Tony frowns. “Why would you assume I wouldn’t want to be a part of it?” he asks. Pepper sighs, rolling her eyes as she sits up straight.

“Listen, Tony, I know you love Peter and that he means a lot to you, but he’s not the only smart kid around here-“

“He’s not just smart. He’s a genius,” Tony interrupts.

“We are not here to hear your son’s resume, Stark. Get more interns, figure this shit out. We want to be able to offer more to the public during this year.” Brown-glasses turns to Pepper and gives her a nod while he piles his papers. “Let’s just conclude this meeting and go on with our days, shall we?”

Tony lets out a relieved breath. He hates nothing more in the world than board-meetings. Especially when they’re here to talk about the fact that he hasn’t been bringing much on the market lately. To be fair, he’s been inventing his proper share of things in the past year, but it’s mostly Avengers-stuff that the public should not receive. Tony isn’t sorry for it, he _did_ make another breakthrough in the medical word, after all.

“ _Boss, Captain Rogers would like for me to let you know that Professor Xavier asked for his presence at the institute, but that he’ll be home in a few hours.”_

“ _Sure, let him know not to take off the suit when he gets home, you know, unless it’s bloody or dirty. Then I don’t want it all over my bedsheets.”_

“ _Of course, you wouldn’t, sir.”_

Tony drops the cube down on the table after finishing it twice. It’s not even noon yet, so he’s kind of proud of himself that he managed to be here. In fact, he’s missed only a few meetings since Steve. The board should be thanking _him_ for forcing Tony to come here.

“Tony, I need to speak to you.”

A quick turnaround, and Tony finds that Pepper is still standing there, having closed the door behind her after the last member of the board has walked off. Her fair hair is put up neatly, her make-up done so professionally Tony would almost think she’s about to head to a photoshoot.

“Sure, though bet you for ten dollars that it’s going to be about that ring I just spotted there,” Tony says, pointing at the jewel wrapped around the woman’s finger of her left hand. Pepper looks down at the hand in question, seeming a bit taken aback by his response.

“Uhm, it wasn’t, but I suppose I forgot to mention that as well,” she utters out. Tony gives her an unimpressed look and Pepper stops breathing for a second before rolling her eyes. “He asked me while we were cooking, both of us covered in tomato juice because we’re both not very good cooks. It wasn’t anything as spectacular as I suspect you would have done.”

“Oh, yeah, I would have rocked your entire evening. Just imagine, fancy dinner, band playing something slow, ring suddenly in your glass-“

“In my glass? Seriously? That’s so cliché, Tony,” Pepper laughs. Tony shrugs.

“Eh, clichés work for a reason, right?” Tony returns. “I’m romantic that way.”

“I’m pretty sure Steve loves that.” Pepper has this fond look on her face. “But, Tony, I’m sorry about what I said earlier. About Peter…”

 Tony stands up a bit straighter after that, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants unconsciously.

“See, you’re doing it again. You’re freezing up on the spot like you’re expecting something horrible to happen. What’s going on, Tony?”

Tony lifts up a hand and rubs his chin nervously while averting his eyes. The floor looks nice, though Tony wonders who ever thought it was a good idea to bring carpet here. It’s just begging for allergic reactions, especially with all those fossils of the board.

He knows the only reason he’s reacting this way is because he’s afraid somebody soon will tell him that he’s actually not that good of a dad. He’s really trying his best, but it’s hard to prove it when your son is already almost an adult once you get to know him.

“Nothing’s going on,” Tony returns. “Peter’s coming home this evening.”

“How is he liking MIT?” She actually sounds genuinely curious. For a moment, Tony thinks it’s a shame she never had any children of her own. That thought gets replaced immediately when he remembers that Pepper never _had_ any interest in having children. She’s a lot like her mother in that department.

Though, somehow, the universe managed to make their beloved Black Widow, along with Barnes, kind-of adopt an orphaned baby. Yeah, life’s just weird.

“He likes it,” Tony returns. “By the end of the year I figure he’ll have two more degrees to add to that first one.”

“If he’s anything like you, I don’t doubt that,” she returns. “Listen, Tony. Again, I didn’t mean to insinuate that you only care about Peter; it’s normal, you’re his dad after all.”

“You’re damn right I am,” Tony returns. “And I’m sure you understand that Peter will _always_ be my top priority, right?”

“I think I got that, yes,” Pepper says, slightly chuckling. “Looks like the entire former team is getting their priorities straight.”

Tony has to agree with her. What with Natasha and Barnes adopting that Altman-kid whose mother died in some sort of battle, Rhodey officially having moved in with May somewhere further in New York, and Wilson also expecting his first kid soon enough, things seem to be getting more interesting.

There’s also the darker things going on, like Wanda and Vision failing at their first attempt to create a child. It was sad, because Tony actually saw the two boys, the babies. They had looked healthy, ready for life. But bad shit happened, and they’re just… no longer there. It’s safe to say that Wanda didn’t really take it all that well.

The team is nearly nothing like it used to be. There’s Clint having taken in a young girl Peter’s age (Tony thinks her name is Kate) who appears to be just as skilled at archery as him (he calls her his ward, which is just ridiculous but at the same time _so_ Clint). Natasha and Barnes stepped out. So did Bruce and Rhodey. Vision’s still there, but Wanda took some time off. Sam’s only doing a few missions…

As it is, the current team consists of Carol, Vision, Clint and Kate, Scott and Hope, Peter (whenever he’s nearby) and Harry – that last one being much to everybody’s surprise back when the kid revealed that he wanted to join.

But the team’s doing pretty good. It’s only because of that, Tony remembers, that Steve took a step back as well.

“Listen, Pep, I need to get home. I’m really happy for you and… well, Happy.”

“Smartass,” Pepper returns. Tony shrugs smugly, leaning forward to kiss her cheeks before walking off.

_“FRI, clear my schedule for today, will you?”_

“ _Do you have something special planned, sir?”_

“ _Just going to see my man, is all,”_ Tony returns. Once he’s in the penthouse he steps onto the balcony, letting the suit surround him with just a thought. Tony flies up, all the way to Manhattan, landing in front of the school with ease. He sees a few of the mutant-kids looking at him in wonder. He gives them a smile and a wave.

“Heya, kids. Anybody know where I can find a certain Captain America?” he asks.

“Uh, I think he’s in the professor’s office,” one of them says, pointing to the building they’re standing in front of. Tony nods before removing the suit. Pulling out his sunglasses, he walks through the courtyard, greeting every teenager and kid that seems excited to see him.

Once inside, he finds a lot of other people, as well. The teachers, to be exact. While Storm greets him with a smile, and Jean shakes his hand shortly, there’s also Scott who just nods stiffly, followed by Logan who just plainly ignores him.

“What, did somebody step on your toes, Wolfie?” Tony asks jokingly. Logan turns around, throwing him a wicked grin that makes Tony realize he should probably have kept his mouth shut. But, ah, he’s always known for running his mouth. It’s a talent, he supposes.

“Ask your boyfriend, Stark,” he returns. Tony snorts, crossing his arms.

“You know, in case you were trying to be ‘mean’,” Tony does some airquotes to accentuate his point, “it’s pretty much failing given the fact that I _have_ a boyfriend.”

“I know, but you should ask him, anyway,” Logan returns with a wink before walking off, following the other teachers back outside. Tony looks back at him in confusion, not really understanding him all that much. Mutants have always been a matter far from him; they always have their own thing to do, after all.

Though they did help along during the war against Thanos a few years back. Tony probably shouldn’t complain about it.

He decides to just move forward. He only vaguely remembers where the professor’s office is, so with a careful knock he indicates his presence, hearing a small ‘come in’ from the other side. But even if he hadn’t heard anything he would have stepped inside the room.

“Charles, tell me, isn’t he just the greatest man alive?” Tony asks while entering, noting Charles seated behind his desk with Steve standing in front of it. Charles is smiling lightly, probably having sensed his presence beforehand. The smirk gets even wider when his eyes fly up to Steve.

Oh, so Steve must be very happy to see him, pun also intended.

“Tony,” the Captain gets out, clearly surprised at the sudden presence of the engineer in the room. Tony rolls his eyes, walks up to Steve and throws an arm around his middle.

“I didn’t mean to intrude but you know me, I’m a rather curious person,” Tony says while leaning against his partner. He’s only _slightly_ sad to see he’s not wearing his uniform, but then again why would he have been? It’s not like either of them have been called into action a lot, lately.

“No, it’s good that you’re here. You’re kind of involved, too,” Charles points out. “I trust you haven’t noticed good Mr. Wilson sitting there on that chair behind you?”

Both Steve and Tony turn around, suddenly noticing that, indeed, a person is sitting there in that familiar red-and-black suit, sticking a knife against his face where is teeth are supposed to be underneath. Tony instantly flinches.

“Oh no,” he mutters automatically, a reaction he’s come to adopt from Peter. He’s had his fair number of run-ins with Deadpool, given the fact that the guy seems to have one gigantic crush on Peter that will probably never be reciprocated.

That, and there’s also the fact that Deadpool saved his life that one time, but that’s a story for another day.

“Hello there, Mr. and Mr. Peter!” Deadpool greets them happily. He gets on his feet, throwing the knife aside until it gets stuck on the floor. Tony can hear Charles sigh from behind him. “You two finally came to your senses and giving me your blessing?”

“Blessing for what?” Steve asks curiously.

“Ah, well, for your son’s hand in marriage, of course!”

“Wade, please,” Charles urges on. “You know why you’re here.”

And Wade hunches forward all of the sudden, seemingly appearing sad.

“Because I beheaded that jerk drug dealer who was about to take that kid?”

“Exactly,” Charles says, sounding amused. “Now, I know it’s asking a lot, but there has been only one person alive that Wade here has any bit of respect for.”

“Oh please don’t tell me it’s-“ Tony starts.

“CAAAAAAP!” Wade calls out, throwing his arms around Steve’s waist, with that slightly pushing Tony aside. As Deadpool starts hanging on Steve almost literally, Tony notices the amused look on Steve’s face.

“Well, at least he’s not grabbing your ass,” Tony mutters out. He’s known Wade do it to many people. He even dared to touch Natasha’s, which didn’t really end up well for him as she snapped his neck without a single hesitation.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Wade mutters against Steve’s chest.

“Anyway,” Charles says in an attempt to get their attention back. “I know the two of you have been taking some time off from the field. I was hoping that perhaps, Captain Rogers, you would be interested in helping Wade along on a better path?”

Tony bites his lips together when he sees Wade look up at Steve, suddenly jumping up and down in excitement. Steve shakes a bit with the movement, but he, too, seems amused. It’s really a testament to the guy’s patience.

“I suppose that would be alright,” Steve says, giving Wade a small push until the man lets go of Steve. Then he readjusts his shirt for a bit, putting a hand on Wade’s shoulder. “But… you need to understand that killing people just like that is something I’m not tolerating from you anymore.”

Oh no, Tony could slam his face against the wall. Steve is _actually_ going to ‘mentor’ Wade freaking Wilson!

“Steve, honey, can I just have a quick word?” Tony calls out, nodding towards the door.

“Of course,” Steve says. He gives Wade a pointed look before following Tony out of the room. Once they’re separated from the others well enough, he turns towards his partner.

“I sure hope you’re not intending on letting him stay at the tower?” Tony asks, trying not to sound too annoyed. Steve just laughs, putting his hands on Tony’s shoulders and looking him straight in to his eyes.

“Don’t worry, he won’t,” Steve assures him, leaning forward to kiss Tony’s lips softly. Tony hums as he leans forward, his hands quickly finding Steve’s back until he lets his hands roam a bit more downwards.

“Good, because I had a few plans for the afternoon, you know?”

“Did you now?” Steve smirks as he looks down at him with that fond expression. “Will you tell me what those were?”

Tony chuckles, leaning forward until his lips are next to Steve’s ears.

“Well, first you are getting in that suit of yours, and then-“ Tony continues whispering the rest of his plans in Steve’s ears, completely aware that Steve’s probably blushing so hard he’s almost as red as a strawberry.

“ _Stark, you do realize that I can hear everything?”_

“Bite me, Charles,” Tony returns out loud. Steve suddenly pulls back.

“Okay you got me extremely interested up until that last part,” he tells him. “Let’s just head back, I’ll work something out with Wade and I’ll meet you up at the cycle, alright?”

“But sex afterwards?” Tony asks with a pout. Steve rolls his eyes.

“If you can get the image of Charles biting you out of my head, sure,” Steve jokes. Then he gets back inside the room.

 

* * *

 

 

Tony isn’t too sure what exactly Steve has planned with Deadpool. In a few days, they’re heading out for a week, following some sort of lead on whatever. Tony didn’t listen to it too much, instead having his thoughts more on the fact that his son is coming home this evening.

So after spending the morning at the school, the afternoon in his happy place in bed with a very handsome Captain as his companion, he’s ready to begin his evening making sure that Peter’s bedroom doesn’t look too much like nobody has been sleeping there for the past few months.

“Tony, relax,” Steve says from the kitchenette as Tony takes out what he thinks is a duster. He has no clue, since he’s never really had to clean anything before. “You know the housekeeper does Peter’s room as well, it’s completely clean.”

“You just never know,” Tony points out, holding out the utensil towards Steve. “Can I remove spiderwebs with this?”

Steve gives the thing a short look before turning to Tony with an eyebrow raised. Then he shakes his head.

“No, that’s a mop,” Steve points out. Tony curses, putting it back where he found it. When he turns back around, there’s suddenly a tall man standing behind him, grabbing a hold on his arms. “Tony, stop raiding the cleaner’s stuff and come join me in the kitchen. If you want to make yourself useful, prepare the table.”

Tony nods nervously, earning him a smile from Steve, followed by a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re hopeless,” Steve mutters into his ear. Tony rolls his eyes, taking a quick sniff in the air to find out what they’re going to eat.

“I’m hopeless? I’m pretty sure something’s burning back there,” Tony points out when he catches that stingy smell. Steve pulls away rather quickly, running back to the kitchenette and actually getting out a few curses that make Tony feel all tingly inside.

He’s about to make a comment on it, but eventually keeps his mouth shut when Steve gives him a sad look.

“I told you I can’t cook,” he says in defeat, turning off the stove and waving his hand over the smoke. Tony actually feels bad for him. He walks up to the man, taking his hands into his own to turn him around.

“Honey, it’s alright,” Tony assures him. “We’ll just order some pizza, okay?”

Steve lowers his head but nods in agreement. Tony rolls his eyes, leaning his head forward until it’s resting against Steve’s chest, giving him a reassuring hug. Without speaking up, he lets FRIDAY order the usual for them.

“How about we clean this up for a bit, alright?” Steve agrees, and the two of them get working on it as fast as they can. Just when they’re about to finish, FRIDAY comes with the news that the pizza has arrived.

“I’ll get it,” Steve says, grabbing the wallet from the counter and taking out the exact amount from it. It’s a mixed pot of his money and Steve’s, and while Tony assured him that Steve didn’t have to pay for anything, the guy seems to keep on insisting it. It’s about hopeless to fight him on it, so Tony just lets him be, if that’s what he really wants.

Peter arrives only two minutes after Steve’s back. The way he walks in looks more like he hasn’t been gone for a few months, as if it was only yesterday that he’d been here. Of course, before he could speak Tony pulls him into his arms and almost squeezes so hard Peter can’t breathe.

“Dad, holy crap you saw me only two days ago when you visited MIT!” Peter huffs out, though not at all pushing Tony away.

“I know,” he says. “Can’t an old man just be happy to see his boy?”

And Peter shuts up, patting Tony lightly on the back until he lets go. Then the boy turns to greet Steve with a lighter hug. Tony frowns when he takes in Peter’s figure. He looks a bit pale, maybe even sweaty. Maybe he’s not feeling all that well? He could build up a fever, perhaps. Tony reaches out his hand to put it on Peter’s forehead.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Peter asks, pulling his head away.

“You don’t look so well,” Tony points out. Peter rolls his eyes, taking off his coat and hanging it up among the others.

“Jeesh, thanks,” Peter mutters. “Also, is that pizza I smell?”

“Damn right!” Steve says from a bit further away. He gestures for them to join. “Come, let’s take a pizza and watch a movie!”

“Oh, like old times!” Peter calls out, walking out of his Dad’s reach to join Steve at the table, where he takes the box with his preferable pizza and carries it to the couch. Steve sits down next to him, grabbing the remote control and pointing it at the screen.

“Now what do you want to watch?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” Peter mutters. “Put up Star Trek or something. The one with the actor that looks like Strange.”

“On it,” Steve says, pressing around on the buttons for a bit before Peter takes pity on him and takes it over. Despite everything, Steve’s still not as handy with technology as he probably wishes he was.

Tony tries to shake off the worried feeling he’s having all over. Surely, if Peter wouldn’t be feeling well, he would say so, no? He’s probably pale like that because he’s been having long days at school. Or maybe he’s catching a cold. Nothing to worry about, after all. Despite everything, Peter can still have common colds.

So Tony lets out a relieving breath, grabs his own box and marches up to the couch. When he nears them, he looks down at the two.

“Move over, I’m going to sit there,” he says, pointing at the spot between Peter and Steve. None of them complains, knowing that Tony like to be in the center. Once he’s seated, Peter leans to the side of the couch, throwing his legs over Tony’s. Steve puts his arm over Tony’s shoulder.

“You see,” he starts whispering to Tony with a hushed voice. “Nothing to worry about.”

Tony sighs, leaning his head to the side until it’s resting against Steve’s chest. Without speaking they start up the movie. It feels good, indeed almost as if they’re back to that first month together, where Peter still went to high school. That time where most of their troubles hadn’t happened yet.

It’s only hallway into the movie that Tony realizes Peter has fallen asleep, pizza not even half finished. Tony frowns, leaning a bit to the side to reach for Peter’s sleeping form. When he gently starts to shake his shoulders, Peter jumps up in surprise, looking disoriented. His skin is wet from sweating.

“Wha-?” he starts asking.

“Peter, you alright?” Tony asks. He can feel Steve shift a bit next to him. Peter just grunts, rubbing his eyes while sitting up.

“Yeah, uh… I should probably just go to bed,” he mutters. “It’s been a long couple of days.”

Without further prompting, Peter pushes his box aside and starts getting on his feet. When Tony moves as well, Peter holds up his hand.

“No, no, I’ll be fine,” he assures him. “I’ll see you two tomorrow, alright?”

Tony nods, and so does Steve. They watch as Peter starts moving, slowly, to his bedroom. His shoulders are hunched forward, his feet dragging on the ground. He looks completely exhausted. Tony frowns especially hard when he hears Peter gasping for breath.

“Honey, you sure you’re alright?” Tony asks, sitting up for a bit. Peter stops in his tracks, putting a hand against the wall while the other reaches for his chest. His dull eyes turn to look at the two, though Tony’s not sure he can actually see them.

“I-“ he starts, taking another deep breath. “I don’t feel so good.”

After that, Peter’s eyes close and he falls down to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm looking up all types of reactions to spider bites, and It's inspiring me a whole lot :3


	3. What makes Peter tick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a warning; Peter's REALLY sick. As in with all the nasties along with it. And even though I'm a nurse, I'm still not a doctor and I wouldn't know too much about spider bites reactions or radiation sickness, nor about any forms of brain diseases or seizures. I performed MRI scans, but that doesn't mean I can interpret them! 
> 
> Greets, and hopefully enjoy!  
> Emma

There are times where Tony would say that being a parent is the best thing in the world. That time is actually almost always, but that’s probably because his son is just the perfect son, in his very honest opinion. Peter does well at school, he doesn’t do any illegal stuff, doesn’t smoke or drink, and when he brings home a girl – not often – it’s a really kind one who can deal with the fact that Peter’s not really that into… yeah, no, that’s not really a thing Tony needs to be thinking about.

But, if he’s completely honest, there are, though few, also moments where being a parent is the worst. They’re rare in his experience, but they’re often connected with Peter lying in a hospital bed, monitored by multiple machines and an oxygen mask over his mouth.

Tony hasn’t left his side since he flew Peter all the way here to the compound. As he was on his way, Steve had called Helen and the others that they needed a room ready for him. That’s how they got to look after him almost immediately.

There’s been so many blood tests, even arterial blood has been taken. Spit, urine, whatever else they could find. Peter had been unconscious the entire time, which seemed to be the biggest thing worrying Helen other than the major fever he seems to be having.

May arrives an hour after Peter’s brought here. They guide her to the room, and she just silently grabs a chair and sets it on the other side of the bed to take Peter’s hand into her own.

“Do you think somebody poisoned him?” she asks with a shaky voice. The way she speaks, Tony can tell she’s trying to hold back her tears. He’s not going to comment on it, because he’s pretty sure he’s in the same state.

“It’s possible… I’ll have FRIDAY look over the footage inside his mask,” Tony returns. He then turns to Steve, who has been a constant presence at his side. “Honey, could you-“

“Of course,” Steve says before Tony could even say what he means. “I’ll get his stuff. You need anything else?”

Tony shakes his head. Normally he would request his tablet so he could do some research but since his own mind can do the exact same thing it’s not necessary anymore. Steve puts a hand on Tony’s cheek, giving him a sad look before kissing his lips shortly.

“I’ll be back in an hour,” Steve assures him in a whisper. Then he moves away, making his way back to the tower. Tony lets out a sigh the moment Steve walks out the door. He turns his head a bit to the side, blinking a few times as he looks out the window.

It’s raining, of course. It had been raining when Tony flew all the way back to the compound. It’s rather typical in November.

“When he was little I would stroke his hair while holding him on my lap each time he was sick,” May suddenly says. Tony gives her a short glance but doesn’t speak up. “It calmed him down long enough to let him fall asleep.”

Tony smiles lightly, but it doesn’t stay on his face for too long. It’s, after all, just another reminder that he never got to know Peter when he was little. That’s something Mary took away from him.

The hand holding Peter’s squeezes into his fingers, trying to get any sort of reaction out of the boy. Much to his surprise, a painful groan escapes Peter’s mouth, making both May and Tony jump up from their seat.

“Peter!” they both call out. Peter squeezes his eyes shut, shaking his head while he fights to stay in dreamland. He gives up the fight when his eyes open up.

“Where- what happened?” Peter mumbles, barely opening his mouth. It’s May who answers, leaning forward and passing her hand through his hair lovingly.

“You fell sick, honey. You passed out.” She leans forward to kiss him on the head. “How are you feeling right now?”

Peter makes an uncomfortable sound, turning his head to look at Tony. “Hot. Cold. Like I’m about ready to puke my guts out,” he tries to joke. The small smile on his face falls away when he notices their worried looks. “Where are we?”

“We’re at the compound,” Tony explains. “Dr. Cho is checking if you’ve been poisoned, perhaps. Do you remember anything?”

Peter shakes his head. “I’m not sure. I haven’t been patrolling as much lately.”

Tony nods. “That’s why you arrived at the tower through the front door instead of the balcony,” Tony points out. Peter makes an affirmative movement. He forces himself up into a sitting position, pressing a hand on his chest while he tries to take deep breaths.

“Peter?” May asks worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Peter say. “Just having a bit of trouble breathing, is all.”

“Can’t we turn up the oxygen?” Tony asks, but May shakes her head.

“The oxygen helps with the amount of air he takes, but not with the breathing itself,” she explains. “Just sit up for a bit and try to calm down, alright?”

Peter nods, slightly chuckling. “I’m calm,” he says. “My head hurts too much to do anything else, anyway.”

Tony sighs. He can’t stand this, can’t stand the idea that his boy is sick like this. It seems like May has equal difficulty dealing with it, the way her eyes stay stuck on Peter’s form.

“When’s the last time you went out patrolling?” Tony finds himself asking. Peter, who accepts a glass of water from May, shrugs.

“I dunno, a week or two ago. I got a bit busy with school,” Peter explains. “Besides that I was mostly hanging out with Felicia…”

“Did she get sick as well?”

“As far as I know, no, she didn’t.” Peter drinks some of the water before handing the glass back to May. “She’s back at home, though.”

Peter lies back down after that, putting a hand on his eyes to filter out the light. Then he grunts, looking to the side.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. I thought it was just another common cold,” he apologizes. Tony shakes his head.

“Don’t apologize,” Tony assures him. “We’ll just wait for Cho and she’ll get you in working condition, alright?”

Peter nods, closing his eyes once more as if he’s about to fall asleep. May leans back in her chair after that, giving Tony a worried look. He, too, feels nothing but dread inside of him.

Steve arrives before Cho does. The Super Soldier greets Peter by kissing him on the forehead before taking place next to Tony. There’s a silence in the room, none of them planning on talking about anything. It’s just nervous waiting for Helen to come back with any kind of news.

And she does eventually, arriving in the room with Bruce by her side, holding a chart in her hand and a serious look on her face. The fact that she took Bruce with her can’t mean much good.

“Good morning,” she greets them while Bruce closes the door behind her. Nobody responds to her, so she continues. “How are you feeling right now, Peter?”

Peter shrugs. “Nauseated, my head also aches and my muscles don’t really seem to like me right now. Oh, and is it normal that I have trouble breathing?”

Helen sighs but nods. “That is to be expected, yes,” she says. “We’ve looked over your blood results and compared it to your normal blood.”

“My normal blood?” Peter asks. Tony pats his hand gently.

“Everybody’s got some blood samples stacked here for occasions like these,” he explains. Peter frowns shortly but eventually he nods.

“Okay, and what did it say?” he asks.

“Well, my first guess would have been that you’re showing symptoms of a spider bite. The muscle pain, the difficulty of breathing, sweating, headache and all the other stuff, it’s very normal after particular spider-bites.”

“So, Peter got bitten by something?” May asks. “How is that possible? Shouldn’t he be immune to things like these by now?”

Helen takes another deep breath while turning to Bruce. It’s a silent cry for help it seems, like she doesn’t want to be the one to tell them whatever news she has for them. Lucky for her, Bruce seems to take it over, after all.

“Until now, the spider-venom merged with your DNA which gave you your powers,” he explains. “Now we’ve looked at the blood, and we’ve noticed that the venom is starting to attack your cells. Now we’re not sure if that’s what was going to happen either way, or if something is preventing your DNA from accepting the venom like before.”

“That’s not supposed to happen,” Peter whispers out. “The Spiders were genetically altered so that only my DNA could accept it.”

Tony frowns. He never knew about that. How is that even possible? Did Peter’s parents know about him getting bitten, then? How could they possibly know about that?

“That’s not all, is it?” Steve suddenly asks, eyes resting on Bruce who looks like he just wants to be away from here. Tony swallows through a hard lump in his throat, realizing that this might not be the best news he’ll hear.

“The spider that bit Peter… it was radioactive,” Bruce says. Tony understands now why he was brought along with this. “With the way its venom merged with Peter’s DNA over the past few years… it makes the radioactive poisoning rather severe.”

Shit. He can’t be serious, right?

“So, basically, I’m dying, aren’t I?” Peter asks seriously.

“Peter, don’t say that,” May shushes him. Peter shakes his head, trying to sit up once more and pulling his hands loose from Tony’s and May’s. He gives Bruce a serious look.

“Tell me the truth, Uncle Bruce,” Peter begs. “Am I dying?”

Bruce sighs, giving Tony an apologetic look before lowering his head. “All signs lead to it, yeah,” he admits. “Though we still don’t know for certain, and there’s still many more tests we should do before we can get to any form of conclusion.”

Peter nods, though his eyes seemingly staring into nothing.

“Can you- can you all just give me a short moment?” he asks. Bruce and Helen nod before heading towards the door. Tony, Steve and May don’t move until Peter shakes his head once more. “Please, I need to be alone for a few minutes.”

Hesitantly, Steve gets up, his hand coming to rest on Tony’s shoulder to guide him up as well. May stays seated the longest, only getting up when Tony and Steve are almost through the door. They don’t go too far away, keeping the door open while they gather together in the hallway.

“Is there anything you can do, Bruce?” Tony asks the scientist the moment he joins him. Bruce shrugs.

“Me surviving that much radiation was a freak accident, Tony,” Bruce says. “I’m not sure what suddenly causes for Peter to reject the venom all the sudden, but the amount of radiation now flowing through his body is in no way healthy.”

“So we’ll just have to figure out what flipped the switch and just flip it back on?” Tony asks.

“It sounds really easy when you say it like that, but basically, yeah…” Bruce looks down at the chart in his hands before turning towards Helen. “I suggest we get him into an MRI. No CT, he doesn’t need much more radiation than he already has.”

Helen nods. “I thought that, too. Maybe something in his brain is causing this.” Helen sighs. “I’ll have the nurses prepare the MRI and get some contrast fluid ready in case it’s necessary.” She walks off after that, giving May a sad look before leaving. The woman has her arms wrapped around herself, eyes downwards and looking like she’s at the verge of crying. Tony isn’t too surprised when Steve walks up to her and wraps her in his arms.

May sobs lightly against Steve’s shoulder. It’s a heartbreaking view, and Tony just can’t be a part of that. He averts his eyes, keeping his attention on Bruce who has discarded the charts to look some things up on the tablet he got from Tony about a year ago.

“Can Peter even have the MRI? Doesn’t he have that device in his head for his hearing?” Steve asks calmly. Bruce frowns slightly, turning to Tony who shrugs.

“I used vibranium and other non-magnetic materials for it. In the worst case, the device could get irregulated, but I can easily hack back into it.” He shakes his head, glad that he thought about that, at least. “What can we expect next?”

“Possible disorientation, weakness and fatigue,” he starts without looking up. After that, his dark eyes meet Tony’s. “Possible hair loss. Bloody vomit and stools, and hypotension.”

Great. This is just awesome.

“If I knew what I was dealing with, things would have gone much easier,” Bruce then adds.

“What do you mean?”

“The spiders… I don’t know anything about them. What did they use to alter them? What did their formula exist out of?”

Tony turns back to the room, seeing Peter sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. He looks like he’s crying, but his shoulders aren’t moving. When Peter’s hands go through his hair, he startles up, looking down at his hands.

There’s a couple locks of hair in them. Horror shows up on the boy’s face, and Tony just wants to go to him, but he should respect Peter’s wishes. He needed a few minutes alone, so that’s what he’ll get.

Peter goes through his hair once again, finding more locks between his fingers. Defeated, he lowers his hands, closes his eyes, and he looks up.

“Tony, if that’s alright with you some of the nurses will take Peter along for the MRI?”

Tony turns back to Bruce, noticing only then that his own eyes are stinging. He wipes away a few tears and nods.

“Yeah, uh, sure,” Tony says. He takes a step back, allowing the nurses to enter the room. “Can we go with him?”

“I’m afraid we can only allow one person with him, otherwise it’ll be too crowded,” the third nurse says before she can get it. Tony nods, looking at May with wet eyes.

“You should go,” he says. May looks like she’s about to respond to that for a moment, but then she nods. As Peter’s bed is taken out of the room, she passes Tony, kissing him slightly on the cheek before joining Peter. She takes her nephew’s hand into her own and follows them to their destination.

“Wait!” Peter suddenly calls out. The nurses stop walking, and Peter tries to gesture for Tony to come closer. He does, getting himself next to Peter and taking his waving hands into his own.

“Is there a problem, son?” Tony asks.

“My- my dad’s journals. Everything about the spiders is in there. They’re at May’s house. My mother’s journals as well,” Peter says, though slurring a bit through his words. “Find- find them and you’ll figure things out.”

After that, Peter lets go of Tony’s hands and the nurses continue on their way. May quickly turns towards Tony.

“Jim is home, he stayed with the dog. He’ll help you find them,” she quickly assures him. Tony nods, getting himself back to Bruce and poking him in the side.

“I’ll get those journals. After that I’ll help you figure this out,” he assures him. Then he walks up to Steve, wrapping his arms around Steve’s waist and holding him in a tight embrace. Steve returns the hug, the taller man letting out a shaky breath as he presses his face in Tony’s hair.

Tony lets out a short sigh, pulling away slightly to put his hand on Steve’s cheek.

“I need you to stay here,” he says. “Make sure that these people here are doing their jobs. I’ll get those journals, and we’re going to fix this, alright?”

Steve nods, though only hesitantly. Tony stands up on the tips of his toes and presses a gentle kiss on Steve’s forehead before pulling away completely.

“I love you,” he assures him. “And everything is going to be alright.”

Maybe last time Tony couldn’t really do much to save his son other than travel back into time and prevent Thanos from ever getting the six stones together. This time, though, he’s got an advantage. Science. He can figure this shit out, can find out what makes Peter tick and what suddenly stopped working.

He can fix this.

After letting go of Steve’s hand – he hadn’t noticed he was holding it – Tony leaves the medical floor of the compound, ignoring the other Avengers when they crowd him to ask questions. He’s got a mission, after all.

 

* * *

 

 

Rhodey lets him into the house without questioning. Tony’s pretty sure that May informed him about his arrival. After the usual questions of ‘is he alright’ and ‘what’s going on’, the two of them head towards the room reserved for Peter. It still has a few of unpacked boxes underneath the bed, which is where Tony suspects the journals are hidden under.

The moment Tony kneels down to pull out on of the boxes he feels a wet nose against his arm, followed by a small tongue licking his skin. Tony looks sideways to find the little brown Labrador Retriever breathing heavily at his side, tail waggling happily.

“Jazz,” Rhodey sighs, picking up the puppy and holding in it his arms while he watches Tony.

“Cute little thing,” Tony points out. “Always knew you were one to adopt a dog rather than have any children.”

Rhodey laughs lowly, looking down at the puppy in his hands.

“Even if May _could_ have had children, it’s rather late for us to start with it,” Rhodey points out. Tony gives him a short glance while pulling on the box.

“You know how old my old man was when he had me,” he points out. Rhodey gives him an unimpressed look.

“Your dad’s not really the best form of example now, is he?” he returns. Tony blinks once before shrugging. When he directs his attention back to the box, he finds if filled with nothing but journals. “That what you’re looking for?”

“I don’t know,” Tony mutters out, taking one of the journals from the box and giving it a quick look. It dates back all the way to 1992, but the handwriting is familiar enough. These aren’t Richard Parker’s notes. This is all written by Mary.

Tony goes through most of the journals, coming to the conclusion that these have all been written by her. That means that they still have Richard’s files to look for. He pulls the box towards the door, making sure that he’s not going to forget them here. As if on cue, a text message comes up from Steve.

  * _Peter says that the files on the spiders are in a brown briefcase, it’s in his closet._



After a nod to nobody in particular, Tony heads to the closet in question and opens it. Much like Steve’s text suggested there’s a brown, worn briefcase on the bottom. When Tony takes it out, he finds only a few trinkets. A newspaper picture of Richard with Curt Connors, two coins, a broken calculator, an ID for Oscorp on Richard’s name, an USB stick and a case with used glasses inside of them. The last thing he finds is a loose folder, the logo on it being nothing more than two circles with diagonal lines through them.

“Jackpot,” Tony says, throwing the folder back into the case and returning to the box. Rhodey, meanwhile, puts the dog back on the ground, letting it sprint out of the room to hastily get something to play with.

“So, what’s next?” Rhodey then asks. Tony, without much effort due to Extremis (and the serum from Steve’s liver, though according to Bruce that amount has already diminished quite a bit) takes the box from the ground and carries it all the way outside.

“Now Bruciebear and I figure out what shit they did to that spider and what could possibly be poisoning my son,” Tony points out.

“Need me to come along?” Rhodey asks, sounding worried. Tony gives him a quick look but then he sighs and shakes his head.

“No, we’ll be alright,” he returns.

“Too sciency for me?” Rhodey jokes. Tony shrugs.

“Kind of? I know rocket science is more your thing. You’ve never been interested in biology.”

“Neither have you,” Rhodey reminds him. Tony lowers his gaze.

“I’m plenty interested in it if means saving my son,” Tony admits. Rhodey nods, giving him a small smile before squeezing his shoulder gently. 

“Go, then. Fix that nephew of mine. Make sure he doesn’t miss May’s birthday party in a few weeks because we’ve been planning that for months already.”

Tony gives Rhodey a wink before he closes the box with the suitcase in it, lets the armor surround him once more, and flies up in the air.

He might be appearing calm all the time, and he tries his damnest hard to appear it, but if he’s completely honest he feels like he’s about to break apart at any moment. Not only did Peter’s small ‘I don’t feel so good’ trigger him in many ways, the idea that whatever’s going on with Peter might have been inevitable is sickening even more.

Without much grace Tony lands in front of the compound. He carries the journals all the way into Bruce’s lab, only to find that he’s not in there. He doesn’t bother to ask FRIDAY for where he’s hiding, instead heading towards the medical bay in the hopes to see Peter shortly before he gets to start the research.

“ _Sir, something’s wrong with Peter.”_

And it’s as if FRIDAY might have told him that the room has been filled with explosives, that’s how fast Tony’s out into the hallway. Entering medical he finds Steve holding on to May, who has her face hidden against his chest while Steve makes sure she’s not looking in the direction of Peter’s room. When the man notices Tony arriving, worry comes up on his own face even more than before.

“Tony, don’t go in there,” Steve assures him. Tony ignores him, of course. He storms the two by, going through the door where he sees Bruce, Helen and a couple of other nurses surrounding Peter, who is jumping up and down on his bed, head lolling to the side, eyes looking up at the ceiling lifelessly. Helen is holding some sort of syringe in her hand, though not looking like she’s close to inject its content into Peter’s bloodstream.

It’s Bruce who notices him first. Just a short sideway glance, but immediately, the scientist speaks up.

“Tony, get the hell out of here!” he shouts. In his distraction, one of Peter’s arms frees itself and Bruce gets himself a fist in the face. The man takes a few steps back, pressing his fingers against his nose while bowing forward.

Shit. This is by far the worst situation for Bruce, and Tony being here just made it worse, literally.

“Stark, get Dr. Banner out of here _now_!” Helen shouts out without looking away. “Get me Danvers, Barnes and Romanoff immediately!”

Tony storms inside the room, purposely not looking at the group around the bed. Instead, he puts a hand on Bruce’s shoulder.

“Hey, buddy, you’re with me?” he asks. Bruce holds up a hand to silence him, and Tony realizes with a bit of dread that the veins in his hands are looking a bit green. Bruce grunts out painfully, storming out of the room with Tony right behind him. He guides him to a secluded meeting room, where Bruce goes to press his head against the wall while he lets out a few painful screams.

Tony doesn’t speak. Anything that could trigger Bruce right now is incredibly bad news, so it’s best to just keep his mouth shut.

It takes a few moments for Bruce to calm himself down enough. By the time he’s got his back against the wall and his head thrown back, he looks simply exhausted. His breathing is still deep though fast, but when his eyes meet Tony’s there’s no trace of green in them left.

“Sorry,” he says shortly. Tony shakes his head.

“No, it was too much at once. I shouldn’t have entered that room,” he returns. “ _I’m_ sorry.”

Bruce looks surprised at the apology. Tony knows he’s not the one to apologize too often. At least not with words.

“Peter threw up after having the MRI,” Bruce starts without needing any prompting. “Helen’s going to see if he can get any kind of food down, otherwise we’ll need to find another way to make sure he’s got enough nutrition.”

Tony nods. He doesn’t speak, knowing that Bruce’s clearly not yet finished talking.

“The MRI showed some lesions on his brain. It’s not too large yet, but it’s probably the cause of the seizure. We were expecting it, just not so soon.”

“So he’s got brain damage?” Tony asks. Bruce sighs and sits down on the ground, passing a hand through his hair.

“If I’m honest, I have no idea what we’re dealing with. It’s like he’s got almost all the symptoms at once. Joint pain in his hands, visual disruption. His hearing has gone to shit again but I suspect the MRI caused that to his regulator.”

“Any good news?” Tony tries. Bruce chuckles slightly.

“The kid still has his sense of humor, even if he can’t hear himself say it,” Bruce admits. His brown eyes meet Tony’s, and the smile disappears immediately. “Tony, I’m not a medical doctor. I can look after the radiation poisoning and try to deal with that, but if you want to know more about Peter’s medical condition, I’m really not your guy.”

Tony lets out a heavy breath but nods as he holds out his hand towards Bruce. Wordlessly, he pulls him back onto his feet before nodding to the side.

“I’ve found the journals,” Tony explains. “I’m not sure what Mary’s journals can explain, but Richard’s are notes on everything about the spiders.”

“Good,” Bruce says. “Let’s get to work.”

 

* * *

 

 

The first thing they go through is Richard’s folder. It’s not too much to go on, they realize. There’s only a formula that doesn’t mean too much to either of them. They could ask Peter about it later when he’s awake again, but according to FRIDAY he’s still unconscious.

It aches not to be by his side, but Tony knows he can get more work done here. If he stays next to Peter all the time, he’ll only be able to think about him, not giving the research any attention. Besides, Steve and May are still with him. He’s far from alone.

Things are slowly starting to make sense as they get through Richard’s notes, though still a lot of data seems to be missing. The journals Mary wrote have been put aside for the time being. On the first glance it didn’t seem to contain any information on the spiders. Given that they didn’t want to leave any trace, it would have been stupid to write everything down in detail.

“Hey, Tones, you checked that USB-drive yet?” Bruce asks suddenly, barely looking up from the piece of paper he’s studying. Tony startles, having forgotten about the drive.

“No, I haven’t,” he admits. He returns to the table where they dropped all the contents of the suitcase, and quickly he plugs it into the computer. The drive seems to contain some of Peter’s old school work, but one folder inside of it catches Tony’s attention.

_Dad’s Train Stuff._

Without giving the other things any attention, Tony opens the file with a blink of an eye. There’s more documents in there, along with one video file.

“Hey Bruciebear, I’m sending you more stuff to your tablet,” Tony says, only using his mind to do so. Bruce’s tablet makes an affirming sound after receiving the files.

“Thanks,” the man says. Tony, in turn, looks at the video file. It doesn’t look too big, though he can see that it’s a few minutes long at least. Turning up the volume, he starts up the file. On the screen, Richard Parker’s face suddenly appears, the video in a really bad quality.

 

“ _Test. My name is Richard Parker. Whatever lies will be told about me, I would like the world to know the truth.”_

Oh, shit. “Bruce, come here for a second,” Tony calls out. Bruce drops his tablet to the table and joins Tony behind the screen.

“Is that Peter’s other dad?” Bruce asks. Tony feels something uneasy in his stomach as Bruce says the words, but he can’t deny that it’s the truth. Despite not being related by blood, the man still partially raised Peter up to a point.

“Yeah,” he returns shortly.

_“Oscorp was already a leader in genetic research when Norman Osborn made a deal with a foreign military organization to continue funding my research and I discovered what they were going to use it for. Weapons, biological weapons of course. So, I refused.”_

Bruce lets out an annoyed snort.

“When does the military _not_ want weapons?” he mutters. Of course, he’s thinking back of the Super Soldier program that got Bruce into the mess that he’s currently still dealing with.

_“And now to eliminate me from the picture Norman Osborn has falsified evidence against me in order to take control of my work. But it doesn’t matter because there’s something else that Norman doesn’t know. The human DNA that I implanted into the spiders was my own. Which means that, without me, without my bloodline, Oscorp can never replicate or continue my experiments.”_

Tony stops the feed there, and Bruce, too, seems to have taken a step back.

“Hold on for a second,” Bruce says, holding up a hand while he thinks. “ _His_ DNA? If that’s true, then Peter couldn’t have survived the bite, right?”

“No, he shouldn’t,” Tony returns. “If all the other files are right, at least.” He pulls up his tablet and goes through the multiple notes already. “FRI, can you go through this formula and test it on a random living subject?”

 _“Of course, boss,”_ FRIDAY returns. Then there’s a moment of silence. “ _Analysis indicate that subject matter would not survive_.”

They frown at the screen, but Tony continues the feed anyway.

_“I have destroyed as much as possible from the archives, but I didn’t have time to get all of the spiders, so, as a scientist my choice is very clear now; I have to disappear, I have to get as far away from here as I possibly can. But as a father it means I may not see my boy again, and nothing is as important to me as my son Peter. Nothing in this world.”_

Oh, the guy would never understand just how much Tony can relate to that. It’s obvious in the man’s expression that he’s suffering from even saying it. It makes Tony feel a little guilty for hating him this much.

_“But I have a responsibility to protect the world from what I created and protect him from what I know Osborn is capable of. People will say I’m a monster for what I’ve done, and maybe they’re right. I always thought that I’d have more time.”_

“ _Dad? DAAAD?!”_

“ _I’m sorry.”_

The video ends, and Tony feels like his heart stopped for a moment. That was Peter, at the end. Five-year-old, little Peter, who didn’t know anything about what was happening. Whose life hadn’t already fallen apart around him.

 _His_ little Peter, the little boy that he never got to know. His hand goes to his chest, pressing on the scar in the middle of his sternum. He must have been breathing strangely as there’s suddenly a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him.

“Tones, you’re alright?”

Tony looks up, realizing that his eyes are wet. This little boy, who has already suffered so much in his life. Who is lying in a hospital bed right now, probably dying if they don’t figure this out quickly enough. His little Peter, who might be an adult now, might be going for a doctorate next just so he wouldn’t get bored. His son, who has already died in Tony’s arms once.

“We need to find out why the bite worked on Peter anyway,” Tony says. “A bit earlier, he said that the bite only worked on his DNA, which means that…”

“He knew about it?” Bruce asks. Tony nods, putting a hand on his forehead while he tries to think. “Helen has one of the spiders. She said Peter gave it to her a few years back. She analyzed it and stored it somewhere afterwards.”

Tony nods. “Can we bring up anything she got out of that?” he asks. Bruce nods.

“I’ll ask her. In the meantime you should probably look over those other journals. They could maybe shed some light on that whole DNA-business,” Bruce says, pointing at the box while he starts heading for the door. Right when it slides open, Bruce bumps up against a larger figure.

“Sorry,” Steve says. Tony turns around once he hears his voice, but with the first journal he could find in his hand he doesn’t stand up instead leaning back in his seat. “Tony here?”

“Yeah, he’s inside,” Bruce says, pointing in the room with his thumb before walking off. When Steve enters, the door slides shut behind him.

“How’s he doing?” Tony asks.

“He woke up again a few minutes ago. Threw up some more, it was bloody this time. Next to that he’s losing more hair,” Steve explains. “Of course, you would know that if you were there.”

“If I’m there I’m not doing all I can to make sure my son stays alive,” Tony returns, going through the diary in a speed tempo but realizing it’s one from when she still worked at Stark Industries. It’s useless, so he throws it on the table and reaches down to get the next one.

“He asked for you,” Steve says sternly. “He wants to see his dad.”

In a sudden moment of panic, Tony throws the book he’s holding to the side, pressing his hands against his forehead. He leans forward in his seat, realizing this his breathing is too fast and too faint.

Steve is at his side in an instant, pulling him into his arms and keeping him in a tight hold. Tony grabs his shoulders, letting out a panicked sob while pressing his face against Steve’s chest.

“I want to see him,” Tony says, though with much difficulty. “I want nothing more to be there and hold him in my arms while I let the people figure out what’s wrong with him, but I can’t! I can’t sit at the sidelines knowing that I could have helped figuring this out.”

“I know, Tony,” Steve says, gently kissing him on the forehead. “I know how hard this is for you. But you can’t overwork yourself like this. Give Peter the chance to hang out with you for a little bit…”

“Before he’s gone, right?” Tony returns. He tries to pull out of Steve’s hold, but the man doesn’t let him.

“Before he starts to think he’s in this alone,” Steve corrects him. “Take these books, get to his room. Read them next to him, maybe he can explain some things as well.”

Tony sighs. That’s exactly what he told himself not to do. But at the same time he doesn’t want to make Peter feel like he’s unwanted. Shit, he just can’t do anything right either way. In defeat, he nods against Steve’s chest. The man pulls back after that, putting a hand on Steve’s cheek and looking him into his eyes.

“I love you, Tony Stark. And I’m sure that you can figure this out. But working with Peter has always been… complementary. You always finish each other’s sentences.” Steve gives him a light kiss on the lips before pulling away.  

“I guess you’re right,” Tony sighs, allowing Steve to pull him along. “Though I need the journals.” He points at the box, and Steve leans forward and picks up the heavy box with just one arm, just so he doesn’t have to let go of Tony’s hand. Tony grabs his tablet and the remaining journal, and lets himself be guided back to his son by Steve.

Once they get into the room, it turns out Peter’s sleeping again. He’s out of his clothes, wearing a blue gown instead. In his arm there’s an IV running, on his finger a saturation reader. Tony sighs, letting go of Steve and putting his stuff on the chair next to Peter’s bed so he can walk forward and kiss his son gently on his forehead.

Peter’s expression shifts slightly, but not for long. He doesn’t wake up, though, so instead he sits down. Steve drops the box at his feet, leaning forward once more to kiss Tony’s cheek before heading back to the door.

“I’ll get you your coffee,” he tells him. “I know you’ll need it.”

Tony smiles at him, and when he’s out of the room he turns back to look at his boy. He’s pale, his hair thinned out. His skin is wet, sweaty. On Peter’s other side, May’s side, the chair is empty. She must be taking a walk probably.

Without thinking further of it, Tony opens up the journal and starts going through it. He realizes quickly that, once again, this one is dated way too early. He puts it aside and reaches for the next one. By the time Steve returns, Tony already discarded five journals. It seems like Mary really had a lot to write down. When he has time, he’d love to read through them if Peter’s okay with that, but now he just doesn’t have that time.

May returns after an hour, bringing a couple of guests inside the room as well. Tony doesn’t look up, but he can hear Natasha softly muttering something to Bucky, and he’s probably not mistaking when he catches a word from Carol as well.

They’re speaking softly, but he isn’t listening. He’s aware that the three had been called in to restrain Peter during his seizure, and they probably just never left.

“Tony?”

Tony looks up, realizing that Steve is talking to him. The man is sitting next to him, holding a journal of his own in his hands, probably trying to help Tony along in his research.

“Some of Peter’s friends have asked if they could come and visit?”

Tony blinks twice. His friends? That could only be Harry, Ned, Felicia, MJ, Johnny and Yaël. Perhaps Wanda, too. In some occasions Wade as well.

“Yeah, sure, I’m sure he’ll like that,” Tony returns. Steve nods, lifting his hand back to his ear. That’s when Tony realizes he’d been holding a phone there. Tony hadn’t even heard it going off.

Peter wakes two hours later. He’s still quite groggy, unable to give a verbal answer to many of the questions asked to him, but he does seem to recognize the people around him. His hand reaches out in both directions, and Tony and May both automatically reach for them.

“Lov’ya guys,” Peter mutters, that being the first thing he says after waking up. Tony decides to just try it anyway.

“Peter,” he calls out, snapping his finger next to Peter’s ear. The boy turns his head around until his brown eyes meet Tony’s. “Can you hear me?”

Peter nods. Good that Tony already fixed the systems in Peter’s hearing aid.

“Peter, can you tell me what you know about the spiders?”

Peter squeezes his eyes shut, his hands letting go of May and Tony and instead reaching for his eyes as if something’s hurting him. After a few seconds, he relaxes again.

“Mom changed the DNA,” he slurs out, barely understandable. “She- she changed the- the…”

“The what, Peter?” Tony urges on calmly. Peter’s eyes open again.

“Last one. The la- the last jour-…” He starts coughing after that, his hand reaching for his chest. May sits up to get him seated upright for a bit, but Tony just remains there, frowning. Last one? What could he possibly mean with that?

“Tony, you should read this,” Steve suddenly says. He taps Tony’s shoulder to get his attention. When Tony gives it to him, he gets a book nudging in his direction. Tony takes it over from him carefully.

_“Richard doesn’t trust Oscorp anymore. He thinks they want to use the formula for power, instead of changing the world for good. I don’t know why he’s suddenly so paranoid about it, but it can’t be for nothing._

_He told me he’s adding his blood to the spiders, so the only effect it will have is to his own blood. I know he’s talking about little Peter, for when he’s older. But he doesn’t know, can never know. The Spiders won’t have the desired effect on Peter at all, if it’s a matter of blood._

_So, that night after Richard took his blood, I exchanged the vial. Only that way, I can be sure that Peter will be safe, and that he will become the hero that I know he’s destined to become.”_

“What the-?” Tony mutters out. This is just getting weirder and weirder, he realizes. He takes the journal from Steve and reads it over again and again.

_That he will become the hero that I know he’s destined to become._

But this can’t be? There’s just no possible way for her to have known, right?

_Become the hero that I know he’s destined to become._

Tony looks back at Steve shortly. Then he looks back down at the journal before directing his attention towards Peter.

Peter who is looking at him groggily, held up by May who seems confused at what’s going on.

“Peter, how did your mother know?” Tony asks. Peter blinks, appearing extremely disoriented. He’s sagging forward for a bit before May holds him back.

“Dunno,” Peter answers.

“Tony?” May asks.

“Mary knew, somehow,” he explains to her.

“Mary knew about Peter being bitten by the spider? But how?” the woman asks in confusion. Before Tony can speak up, there’s a knock on the door, followed by Bruce entering the room with someone behind him.

Tony can’t even groan in annoyance when he sees it’s Strange, holding a copy of Peter’s chart in his hands and wearing actual scrubs. Because now it seems obvious.

“Time travel,” Tony whispers out.


	4. Opportunity arises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!  
> I'm sorry it took so long to bring this chapter, even more sorry that it's such a short one. I had figured a long while ago that this one wouldn't be as long, but the fact that I took a month-long holiday to the States kind of pulled me out of the groove of writing. But I've found it again, and I intent on finishing this one as quickly as possible!

“Miss Parker, my name is dr. Stephen Strange and I’m-“

“I know who you are,” May returns. “We worked at the same hospital.”

There’s a heavy silence. Tony watches the gears work inside Strange’s head as he tries to place May, but it’s clear that recognition is far away.

“Right, okay,” Strange continues, looking down at the chart. “I don’t normally practice medicine as much anymore, but Dr. Cho called me in for this. I’ve looked over mister Parker’s MRI and there’s just some things that I want to discuss with you if that’s alright?”

May looks at Tony, who is still holding the journal in his hands. Steve is still next to him, equally silent. Before Strange can continue, Tony gets on his feet and approaches the sorcerer-slash-neurosurgeon.

“Stephen, can I have a word?”

The man gives him a confused look. The fact that Tony used his first name should be indication enough that Tony’s really serious about it. He still has the journal in his hand, and he’s aware of the annoyance coming from May, who still can’t seem to follow what’s going on. 

“Of… course?” Strange returns. He steps out of the room once more, followed by both Tony and Steve, the latter seeming extremely oud of his comfort zone. “Make it quick, Stark, there’s a lot I have to discuss with your boy over there.”

Tony just pushes the journal in Strange’s face. “Read this bit here,” he says, pointing that the paragraph that he wants the wizard to look over. Strange takes the journal, and gives it a quick read.

“What am I reading here?” he asks after that.

“Richard Parker, Mary’s husband, he designed the spiders, supposedly gave them _his_ DNA so that they would only show results in his bloodline,” Tony explains.

“Yeah, so?”

“Richard Parker isn’t Peter’s blood relative. So it wouldn’t have worked,” Steve deduces. Tony nods.

“No, you see? Mary wrote here that, somehow, she knew Peter would be bitten when he’s older. Now there’s no possible way for her to know that other than-“

“Time travel,” Strange concludes. He closes the journal, throws it back Tony’s way and then crosses his arms over his chest. “And now you’re about to asks me to send you back in time to warn her?”

“No but- uh… yeah? Maybe? I mean, is it possible that, somehow, the person who went back just… hasn’t gone already? Crap, this sounds weird.” Tony slams the journal against his head while he tries to get his thoughts in order.

“Is it possible that something here is preventing Mary from knowing it in the past?” Steve asks a bit more controlled. Tony nods in affirmation to that question.

“It is possible, yes,” Strange says. “But I’m not sending you back in time.”

“Why not?” Tony asks angrily, feeling a strong burning feeling inside of him that is far from pleasant. Strange doesn’t seem affected by his tone.

“You’ve travelled back in time before to save your son. As a miracle, nothing happened back then even though it was a few months that you travelled back to.”

“It wasn’t just to save Peter, it was to save the universe,” Tony counters angrily. Strange crosses his arms.

“Don’t try to fool me. I might not have been there, but I saw it all happen beforehand, remember? You holding your dying son in your arms, seeing him vanishing away? It was what drove you to travel back in time, after all.”

Tony growls, running up to Strange and pushing him against the wall with all the force he can manage. Strange doesn’t seem bothered at all.

“That moment, you couldn’t care less about the universe. You just wanted your son back,” Strange continues to add salt to the wound. Tony’s only aware that his fist was heading Strange’s way until Steve grabs his arm to stop him.

“No, Tony,” Steve warns him. “We still need him.”

Tony clenches his fist a bit tighter, an angry growl escaping his mouth before he loosens his grip, taking a step back. Strange just readjusts his scrubs and leans down to get the chart from the ground.

“You’re lucky, Stark, that I pledged to _save_ people who need it. Because this is not a favor I’m doing for you,” he tells him in a low voice. Strange then walks off, returning to the room to continue his conversation with Peter and May.

“We should get back inside,” Steve points out. He’s holding out his hand in Tony’s direction, but the other man is just looking at the ground, unmoving. That’s what usually happens whenever Tony is reminded of the Infinity War. The burning smell, the ashes covering his hands. He’s not even aware that he’s practically punching his chest until Steve grabs his hands.

“Tony?” Steve asks. Tony blinks up at him, eyes stinging. Steve looks sad, heartbroken upon seeing him like this. It sucks, Tony never meant to make him this worried. Steve’s hands go up to Tony’s cheeks, and he holds his face in a semi-tight grip. “Are you with me?”

Tony blinks twice before nodding, a tear rolling down his cheek. Steve wipes it away with his thumb, gently kissing Tony underneath both eyes before pulling him in a tight embrace.

“We’ll figure it out. We can still ask Scott if he could help us,” Steve assures him. Tony lets out a shaky breath, but then he nods as well. And if Scott can’t help – it’s still a long way back, after all – he’ll just invent something. He’ll sneak that time stone out of the Sanctorum and he’ll analyze it, and he’ll work his fucking ass off to get something working.

Steve guides Tony back inside the room, but Tony’s not really listening to Strange, who is discussing the reactions in Peter’s brain. Instead, Tony’s mind is stuck on Mary, on who told her in the first place. Who was the person that warned her? And what did they tell her? Did she know everything? Know that Tony knows? She didn’t let that show in that video of hers, at least, but it might have been recorded before that person arrived.

He’s barely aware of Strange leaving, only pulled back into reality when he sees a pale hand appearing in front of him. Instinctively, he reaches out for it, feeling Peter’s cold, sweaty skin under his fingers.

“You with us, dad?” Peter asks. He sounds a bit more lucid, it seems. That’s good.

“I’m just thinking, honey,” Tony assures him, pulling Peter’s hand towards his lips to kiss his knuckles gently. Peter looks at him sadly, as if he knows exactly what’s going on in Tony’s head.

“You found mom’s journals, right?” the boy asks. Tony nods. “You know, then, that she somehow knew?”

“Why didn’t you ever mention that before? We could have figured out how she knew?” Tony asks in return. Peter shrugs lightly.

“To be honest, I was more taken by surprise by her admitting that I wasn’t really his son,” Peter admits. Tony takes in the frail figure in front of him, sad to see that thick bush of hair on his head so thinned out, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Peter would have to regrow his hair. After his surgery to fix his ears they had to shave it off, too.

“It’s okay, Peter,” Tony continues. He glances a quick look at May on Peter’s other side, finding the woman close to having some sort of panic attack. Shit, he should get Rhodey here as soon as possible. Quickly, he leans to Steve’s side and whispers at him.

“Steve, could you maybe ask Barton to head over to Rhodey’s to take over dogsitting? We need the guy here.”

Steve doesn’t respond, just nods. He gets on his feet, pecks Tony on the lips before doing the same to Peter’s cheek. After a quick promise that he’ll be back, he exits the room and closes the door behind him. May, then, too gets on his feet.

“I’m… I’ll get some coffee. You want anything, Tony?” she asks. Tony shakes his head, and after a nod from the woman she follows Steve out. She seems close to losing it, which Tony can’t blame her for.

“Strange wouldn’t help, right?” Peter asks the moment they’re alone. Tony clears his throat.

“He thinks it’s too high a risk,” he explains. Peter nods, looking down at his hand fidgeting in the covers.

“He’s right,” Peter says. “It’s not worth risking the universe for me.”

“Don’t say that, Peter,” Tony gets out with a shivering voice. “You’re worth the universe to me.”

And Peter smiles sadly. “To you, yes. To other people, no. I’m just another human being who is getting the inevitable,” he continues. He squeezes his dad’s hand. “Dad, I know you’re going to be doing some crazy shit to get me out of this. I’m asking you not to. Don’t risk the universe for me.”

Tony shakes his head. “You can’t ask that of me,” he whispers out. “I would never put anything before you.”

“You should if it’s the right thing to do,” Peter finishes. He closes his eyes after that, leaning back in bed. The hand in Tony’s loses strength, and for a moment Tony wonders if he actually fell asleep like this.

But then, after a few seconds of just gentle breathing, the spasms seem to begin. It starts in Peter’s fingers, going up to his arms until his entire body is moving up and down on the bed. Like before, his eyes are open, looking lifelessly at the ceiling. For a short second, Tony has no idea what he should be doing here. In only a matter of seconds, his brain directs him to the internet to look up some instructions.

_Keep other people out of the way. Clear hard or sharp objects away. Don’t try to hold them down or stop their movements. Place on their side to help keep airway clear. Look at watch at start of seizure to time its length. Don’t put anything in friend’s mouth._

Okay, okay, he can do that. After pressing the panic button on Peter’s remote, he leans forward, grabbing on to Peter’s right side and pulling him towards him, until he’s lying on his left side.

“Come on, baby boy, just ride it out,” Tony begs of him, feeling Peter shake up and down underneath his hold. His eyes are stuck on the ceiling, unable to look down at the frightening form of his son like this. He could keep observing him, probably should, but he also knows it will just be more nightmare material for later. He doesn’t need that.

The doors open in just a matter of seconds after he pressed the button. He hears one of the nurses say something among the lines of ‘damn it, again?’, though Tony doesn’t respond to it. He takes a step back when the nurse comes up to him, indicating that she’ll take his place.

“Sir, it would be best if you leave the room,” the male nurse says. Tony nods hesitantly before heading out. He casts another short look behind him before he closes the door, letting the medical staff do what they do best. He isn’t too surprised when he sees Strange storm through the hallway. Without speaking a word to Tony, he enters the room, closing it behind him.

Tony sighs, leaning against the wall and throwing his head back. He knows that, in all those movies, people refuse to leave the room, to stay with their child and make sure that they’re alright. But Tony just can’t right now. There’s too much happening in there, more than his brain can handle right now. Too many possible nightmares in that room.

“Tony? What’s going on?”

Tony opens his eyes again, finding both May and Steve walking up to him, holding cups of coffee in their hands.

“He, uh… he had another seizure. They kicked me out, but Strange’s in there with them.”

“Oh my god,” May calls out, tears already starting to form in her eyes. Steve throws an arm over her shoulder and holds her close to his side, for which Tony is grateful since he doesn’t think he would have been able to comfort her.

It’s good that he asked for Rhodey to come here. He doesn’t really know how else he would have dealt with this. He can barely even hold himself in right now.

“Tony, I’m-“ Steve suddenly starts, but Tony shakes his head.

“Just- don’t say anything,” he mutters out. He turns back towards the door to Peter’s room, hating the fact that he can’t see anything in there. He can hear more footsteps coming up from behind him. It’s probably Rhodey, Nat or Bucky. Or anyone, really. Tony can’t think at all.

It’s like the nerves come up after the event. It takes about ten minutes before the door opens up again and Strange gestures for them to come inside. Before Tony can even move, May storms inside with Steve following her a bit more slowly. Tony stays on the spot, unable to move.

He watches a couple of the nurses walking out. Strange is behind them, passing a hand over his forehead in a gesture of wiping away sweat. One short look shared with the doctor is enough for Tony. They’re running out of time. If he’s ever going to find something, it needs to be soon.

Slowly he makes his way to the room, though he doesn’t go further than the door. Looking inside, he sees May seated on her chair next to Peter’s bed, holding his hand as she holds his fingers against her lips. Steve, meanwhile, remains behind her with a hand on her shoulder in a comforting way.

Tony doesn’t dare speak, barely even manages to look at his son, who looks even paler than before. His hair is sticking to his forehead, his eyes closed. His mouth is opened, as there’s a tube put through it. Endotrachial tube. Tony closes his eyes.

“He stopped breathing,” somebody behind him suddenly says. When Tony turns around he finds one of the nurses standing there. “Strange intubated him since he’s not breathing on his own. We’re now waiting for him to start up again on his own.”

Tony nods, grateful that somebody bothers to tell him. The man quickly disappears again and Tony bites his lips.

This is going on long enough. He needs to contact Scott as soon as possible. However he’s going to go back in time, Scott and Hope surely can help him out with it.

“Tony?”

He blinks, looking up when he hears his name. There’s Steve who’s glancing his way, worry clear in his eyes.

“I’m going to fix this now,” he says, trying to sound more assured than he feels. Steve just gives him a sad look while pressing his lips together.

“I’ll keep you updated on his situation,” Steve eventually gets out. May, next to him, isn’t even moving.

Tony hesitates for a moment longer before he does an abrupt turn and storms away from medical. Once he’s outside he opens up the suit and he’s in the air before anybody can even call out his name. He flies all the way to where he knows Scott and Hope’s apartment is located. Landing on the balcony, he loudly knocks on the window.

“Make a temperature scan of the place, will you?” he asks FRIDAY, who does as he asks. On his screen he can see whatever FRIDAY’s picking up, which isn’t much. He curses, figuring that there’s nobody home.

He calls them up, but neither are answering. When he tries anybody else of the Avengers he finds out why that is.

“Scott and Hope went to France for a week, on a holiday. They’re currently in the plane I would suspect,” Carol responds calmly. Tony is unable to hold back a tear as he listens to her, and before she can say anything else he thanks her and hangs up the phone.

There’s nowhere he can go, nothing he can do. He puts his hands in his hair, eyes locked onto the sky. It’s getting dark already, seconds ticking by, precious time being wasted. And Tony’s here, unable to help out his son because he’s a couple years too late.

“ _Sir, when it comes to the matter of time travel I would suggest looking up Kitty Pryde at Charles Xavier’s school.”_

“Why?” he asks in confusion.

“ _According to multiple sources at the institute, she’s been shown to be able to send a person’s mind back in time for a short period.”_

Tony lets out a shaky laugh, almost too scared to hope. He balls his hands into fists right before he gets himself airborne again. The school isn’t far, so he’s there quickly. Not bothering to get out of his suit, he storms inside the building all the way to where he knows Charles’ office is.

“I need to find Kitty Pryde!” he shouts as he opens the door, startling everybody inside except for Charles, who has his eyebrows raised. In the room stands Mystique along with Yaël and Scott.

“I’m sure you do,” Charles mutters before looking at the other three. “Would you please excuse us?”

Mystique and Scott nod, while Yaël hesitates for a moment longer.

“How is he?” she asks calmly. Tony gives her a sad look while shaking his head.

“Not good,” he says truthfully. The girl presses her lips together but nods in understanding.

“Alright,” she returns. Then she follows the others back into the hallway. Tony closes the door behind her before removing the suit and storming towards the desk.

“I’m running out of time, Charles,” Tony confesses. “He’s been having seizures, he’s stopped breathing! They’ve shoved a tube through his throat for crying out loud!”

“I know, Anthony,” Charles returns. “But there’s a thing you’ll need to know about Miss Pryde’s powers.”

“I don’t care if it’s going to hurt me, I don’t fucking care at all! I need to save my son!”

“You would not survive long enough to reach the past,” Charles reveals. “Last time we sent Logan because he was the only one who was able to heal himself fast enough. You, I’m afraid, do not possess that ability.”

“Then call Logan, he’ll go in my place! He likes Peter well enough!”

“I’m afraid I just sent Logan away for a mission in Egypt.”

Only bad news, again and again. Nothing seems to be working for his favor. Tony grits his teeth together.

“But I suspect there’s somebody at the door who is willing to help you out.”

Tony frowns, turning around to see the door opening. Charles probably saw it coming, probably heard whoever it was before they even made to open the door. But coming inside is Wade Wilson, dressed in his normal clothing. The hood of his sweatshirt is pulled up over his head, and his hands are hidden in his pockets.

“I’m sure you’re here for an important matter, Wade?” X asks patiently. Tony quickly rubs the tears away from his cheeks before sniffing his nose.

“Stark, I know how to get you back in time,” Wade calls out without really answering Charles. Tony’s almost afraid to hear what he’s got, but right now he’s about ready to hear every possibility, even if it’s from Wade Wilson.

When suddenly he’s handed a mangled-looking watch he’s almost ready to burst out laughing.

“Wade, I’m pretty sure Cable isn’t going to be happy you took his watch,” Charles chastises him, though only barely.

“He’ll survive, Peter won’t if we don’t use this.”

“I’m sorry, am I missing the point? What’s this thing going to do to help me out?”

“It’s some sort of time-machine. It’s what Cable used to travel through time to kick my ass,” Wade explains. “I’ll show you how this works but you need to be fast.”

For a moment Tony hesitates. Is it really possible that, just by mere chance, he’ll get to go back? He’ll be able to save his son? Tony takes the watch with a frown, observing it carefully. Making sure that he’s not pressing any buttons, he takes in the unfamiliar design.

“You see here? You select the date you want to travel to. Could be the future, could be the past. Then once you’ve selected a date you press this button here.” Wade shows him which button he needs to push. Tony nods in understanding.

“Why are you helping me?” he asks in confusion. Wade just seems unsettled, worried, even, if Tony dares to call it so.

“I know all of you constantly think that I’m joking, but I care for your son. A lot.” Wade sighs. “I would go back, be the hero myself, but it’s not my thing to do.”

And for the first time ever Tony manages to smile to the man next to him. He holds out a hand and rests it on Wade’s shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“Thank you, Wade,” he says truthfully. Wade seems shocked for a moment longer before he smiles his teeth bare, truthful look gone from his eyes, replaced by the playful grin.

“Hey, I’m still down to marrying your son,” he says with a wink, though it lacks the usual enthusiasm. He tries to hide it, but Tony can see just how worried he is. It’s kind of endearing.

“Well I’m not really the one who should be arranging that for you,” Tony returns. He pats Wade’s shoulder one more time before he looks down at the watch. With quick movement he notes down the date of Mary’s last journal entry. Once it’s over he looks up at Charles, waiting for him to say just how bad of an idea this is.

But Charles doesn’t say anything. He just holds up his thumb and nods. Tony clears his throat before nodding as well.

Right, he should go. He suits up again, flying away from the school to where he remembers Mary’s home to be. In his mind he prepares a quick message for Steve, to assure him that he’s found something. Just so that they know he’s on this.

Once he’s landed in front of the old house of the Parkers, he removes the suit once again. The watch, which is now safely wrapped around his wrist, seems to be inviting. He clears his throat, wondering if he should prepare some sort of ‘speech’ to convince Mary to help him?

And then he figures he won’t be needing that. Because he’s a father, and a father would do anything to keep his kid alive. And Mary, being a mother, should be able to recognize that desperation.

He presses down the button without any further hesitation. And it’s just in a flash that it starts raining. It’s completely dark outside now, drops falling down on him. There are a few cars driving behind him, and a couple of people walking on the sidewalk. When they see him, they don’t spare him a second glance. That’s probably the first time somebody hasn’t recognized him while he’s lacking any disguise.

_Right, Tony Stark is MUCH younger here. People wouldn’t even dare to think it’s me._

A sigh escapes Tony’s lips before he shakes his head. He needs to continue, finish this job. With careful steps he goes up the stairs, slightly hesitating before he raises up his hand towards the wooden door in front of him.

It’s just a knock… he can most definitely do this! In his attempt to find any reassurance from FRIDAY, all he finds is static. She wasn’t yet around back in this time. And any search for internet brings him horrible results so he’s not even going to try again with that.

The knocks on the door are heavy, though still not too loud. He notices the doorbell on the side, but he decides not to ring that one just yet. After all, Peter must be around five here, and he’s probably fast asleep. His stomach tingles at the idea that his son is here, a child he never got to meet.

There doesn’t seem to be an answer. Tony tries again, knocking a bit louder this time. His heart jumps when lights suddenly turn on from the inside. There’s the sound of a key turning in a lock before the door opens slightly.

“Who is it?”

And Tony’s breath catches, because that’s the voice of Mary Fitzgerald.


	5. C’mon Mary, let’s just cut the crap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay again. The story's almost finished!

“How is this possible?”

That’s the major question indeed. How is it possible that Tony is standing in front of Mary Parker’s home fifteen years in the past? How is it that a stupid watch he got from freaking Deadpool actually got him to this time? How is it even that Tony trusted the guy enough to take his strange devices?

“Hi, Mary,” Tony greets the woman in front of him. She looks just like he remembers her, with straight brown hair cut short, dark eyes radiating the friendliness she’s holding inside herself. There’s her mouth that he recognizes in Peter now, along with the forehead. Tony finds his breath catching upon seeing her.

Having her in front of him, he realizes that any kind of romantic love he felt for her has now disappeared somehow. He loves her still, yes, but something’s shifted.

“Tony, I don’t know what happened to you but I thought I made it obvious that I didn’t want to see you again?”

Tony rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

“Yeah, you made that very clear. Which is why I haven’t seen you in the past twenty years,” he returns bitterly. That seems to throw her off. She opens the door a bit more to lean against it. It’s an obvious sign that she wants to keep him out, which he understands.

“If this is some sort of prank to make me talk to you again it’s really not-“

“Ah, c’mon Mary, let’s just cut the crap and allow me to tell you why I’m here?”

Tony’s surprised by his own reaction. In the past, he would never have reacted that way to her, too in love to speak against her wishes. Now that he’s no longer head over heels for her he finds it’s kind of easy. A bit like talking to Pepper now.

“Excuse me?” she stammers out. She takes a quick look inside the house, as if she’s heard something. Nothing happens, but she doesn’t seem to lose her guard a she gets herself outside and nearly closes the door behind her. “Listen, Tony, I know you miss me, I miss you, too. But I just can’t do this anymore.”

“Because of our son, right?” he asks carefully, feeling a little bit smug when he sees her open her eyes in surprise.  

“How do you-?”

“Listen, Mary, I know it’s a long shot and you’ll probably never believe me, but I have to try,” Tony starts with his hands up in the air to stop her from talking. He takes a deep breath and starts. “I’m from the future, Peter’s extremely sick and it’s because of something that didn’t happen in this year, which is why I’m here.”

Mary frowns, immediately crossing her arms in disbelief.

“Do you seriously expect me to believe this?” she asks angrily. “So, what, you put on some make-up to make yourself look older, bleach your hair? I know you’d do a lot to get what you want but I would never have expected you to sink so low.”

That, though, that hurt a bit. Especially when Mary moves forward to hold on to his face, attempting to pull away the supposed make-up he’s wearing according to her. When she finds nothing but skin she startles, pulling her hand back.

“It’s one hundred percent me,” Tony assures her. “And I need you to listen.”

“No, it’s just one of your holograms or something. You can’t expect me to believe that you’re from the future?”

Tony sighs, pulling out his phone from his pocket and tapping a bit on the screen before holding it out to her. On it there’s a picture of him, Steve and Peter. He doesn’t even remember when it was taken, nor who did it. It was just always there, he thinks…

“That kid in the middle? That’s our son. Peter. He has my eyes and your hair, he’s extremely smart but never skipped a grade because you were afraid he would end up like me.” He allows her to take the phone from him. The device is also something she’s never seen before, but that seems to be the least of her interests. “He keeps on going to school, about to get himself three diplomas. He has a girlfriend he avoids introducing to us even though we’ve already met her once shortly in the past.”

“That’s-“ she starts, finding herself unable to finish that sentence. “When did you find out about him?”

“2016. He’s the one who approached me,” Tony answers truthfully. He knows he could screw up the timeline like this, but as horrible as it is to say, it’s not like Mary has long left to cause a catastrophe. “Listen, I know that you never wanted me to know about him, but things are as they are and I love him more than anything in the world.”

Mary’s eyes are teary as she tears them from the screen towards Tony.

“Which is why I’m here, because right now Peter’s dying and we, together, are the only ones who can save him.”

Mary seems to hesitate for a moment longer before she hands him back the phone and shakes her head.

“I’m probably going to regret this,” she mutters as she reaches towards the door. Opening it, she gestures for Tony to get inside.

Mary’s home is exactly what Tony would have expected the average family home to be like. There are pictures on the walls of her and Richard, most of them with the addition of Peter in many ages. The lights give a warm glow into the long hallway that must lead to the living room.

“Where’s Dick?” Tony asks. Nobody ever calls Richard that except for Tony. It’s one of the things that he liked to annoy Mary with back when they were still friends.

“He’s asleep, he has an early morning tomorrow.” She gestures for him to sit. “Want to drink anything? Water? A beer?”

Tony shakes his head. “Water’s good,” he assures her.

“Really? I never thought Tony Stark would pass the opportunity to get some alcohol into him?”

Tony bites his lips together before shrugging.

“I’m about three years sober now, so…” he explains curtly. Realizing that she’s about to make a comment on it he quickly stops her. “Okay listen, your husband is working on genetically modified spiders, right?”

Mary, who starts heading towards the kitchen to get a glass nods.

“Yes, they intend to find a way to regenerate certain body parts, hence Curt’s interests in the matter.”

Tony keeps himself from mentioning anything about Connors. It doesn’t help in their situation and it’s unneeded information.

“Richard is going to inject the spiders with his blood. It’s some sort of fail-safe, in case Oscorp would ever turn against him, so they would only have any form of result with his bloodline.”

That information seems to be new to Mary, which makes it all the more clear that she couldn’t have known on her own. Somebody had to tell her; somebody who was aware of the situation.

“Is he afraid Oscorp’s going to turn on him?” she asks curiously.

“Yeah, and that’s the problem. Because when Peter’s fifteen one of those spiders is going to bite him which will give him special powers.”

“He will WHAT?!” she asks in surprise, a bit too loud. Out of reflex she puts her hands on her mouth to keep herself from shouting any louder. They wait silently to hear if Peter or Richard are awake. When it looks like they slept through it she relaxes again.

Tony takes advantage of the opportunity to drink some of his water. Mary, who now has her hands on her legs and is staring at them intensely seems shocked. It’s probably too much information at once. Tony feels a bit bad for her that he has to tell her like this, but he can’t waste too much time here. He has no idea what exactly is going on in the present right now…

“So you’re telling me one of Richard’s spiders will bite Peter? What happens to him?”

Tony thinks for a second, trying to find the best way to say this.

“He’ll become the greatest hero I’ll ever know,” he then says truthfully, taking out his phone again to show her a picture of Spider-Man, followed by one with him wearing the suit but without the mask, standing next to Steve in his uniform. Mary falls quiet after that. A heavy breath escapes Tony’s lungs. He looks down at the brown couch, eyes going over the flowery pattern underneath him. On the table a bit further away are some magazines. One of them shows Tony’s face in a rather unfortunate picture as he was spotted drunk in public. He clears his throat and looks away quickly.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Peter will get bit by one of Richard’s spiders, which should actually kill him since he’s not of the same blood as him?” she tries. Tony hums in agreement and Mary throws her head back in defeat.

“I know I’m asking a lot, but I need you to help me exchange the vials of blood, if they haven’t already been used. Otherwise we have the rest of the night to find a way to add our DNA to those spiders.”

And this is it, isn’t it? Mary, who finally seems to believe him, studies him really hard. There’s this unreadable expression on her face that he can’t quite place. It’s weird how fifteen years apart can put them so out of sync.

“Everything’s pretty much sealed off at Oscorp. Even I don’t have full access to it,” she warns him.

“Don’t worry about that. I can get us inside. You just need to show me where I need to go.”

Tony can tell that her mind is already made up pretty much. She nods at him and gets onto her feet. He watches her grab her shoes off the ground, which is indication enough for him to get up as well. Once she’s wearing her coat she nods towards the door for him to follow.

He’s not too surprised that the car ride is rather awkward. With the radio broadcasting some sort of talkshow that seems to love to speculate on this year’s Tony Stark’s current whereabouts, Tony finds himself fascinated to hear them talk about him like that. It’s weird since it’s about him, but it also kind of Isn’t since it’s about the other Tony.

Mary seems to catch on as well as she grips the steering wheel tighter. “So, uh, where are you, currently? In this year, I mean?”

“Psychiatric hospital,” he answers dryly. “Getting treatment for my depression. Which nobody knows about, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Mary retorts before her face falls. “Depression… it isn’t because of me, is it?”

Tony can’t really lie to her, he never could. “Amongst many things, yes. You are, I’m sure, aware that my life hasn’t really been much fun…”

She doesn’t answer to that, which Tony is grateful for. He doesn’t want to talk about himself, especially about a time when Mary was the most important person in his life, and she was spending hers pretending their son wasn’t his.

It’s about ten minutes later that she speaks up again. They’re almost nearing Oscorp and Tony has to admit that, though he hates it very much, the tower does end up looking better than it does now.

“So, uhm, that man in the picture with you and Peter… He a family friend?” she tries. Tony could almost laugh at the question.

“I guess you could say that,” he returns. “Very friendly.”

Mary raises an eyebrow at him. “Okay, what are you not telling me?”

“He’s Captain America,” Tony says quickly before thinking of the other way to describe Steve. Wonderful and perfect Steve.

“The real one?” Mary sounds impressed. “I thought he died?”

“So did I, until they found him in the Ice back in 2012.” Tony sighs when he thinks back of that time. Oh, how they just couldn’t stand each other back then. It’s almost criminal…

“So he’s like another uncle for Peter, then?”

Tony hesitates for a bit, just a few seconds, before his mind tells him that, once upon a time, he could tell Mary anything. She would never judge him, no matter what it was. He figures things wouldn’t have changed that much.

But before he can say what he wants to say Mary announces that they’ve arrived. Tony gets himself out of the car and quickly follows the woman inside. It’s extremely weird to hang out with her again. Almost as if nothing has changed. Except for the way he feels about her, that is.

“I might not be the biggest fan of Peter putting his life on the line, but I’m sure that with an Uncle like Steve no harm could come to him,” Mary jokes as she guides them inside the building. There are only a few people still inside, most of them on their way back home. The receptionist who got stuck with the evening shift looks like she’s about ready to head back to bed.

Mary gets them to an elevator. Awkwardly they stand together, Tony’s hands clasp together in front of him while Mary leans against the wall.

And that’s when Tony blurts it out.

“More like a father,” he says.

“Excuse me?” Mary asks in confusion.

“Steve’s not an Uncle to Peter, he’s like a father. Because Steve and I are together. Have been for a while now.”

Mary stays quiet, but Tony is all too aware of her eyes on him. She’s studying him, probably trying to get to know him again. It’s been a while since they’ve hung out for her as well.

“Okay,” she then says. Relief passes all over Tony, but he doesn’t let it show.

“Okay,” he returns, pretending like it’s not that big of a deal. “Are you- are you surprised?”

The elevator nears the floor they need to reach.

“I feel like I should say ‘yes’ to that to spare your feelings maybe, but no, I’m not surprised at all.” Mary smiles as she walks out of the elevator shaft.

Tony nods once again, though the conversation falls flat after that little exchange. She takes them through the hallway, entering a door after passing a badge against the scanner. Tony sees her picture on it, still hating the fact that she left Stark Industries to come work for this nutjob here.

Once entering the room, Tony finds they’re in some sort of large laboratory where everybody seems to have their own desk. There’s the typical hexagonal shapes that Oscorp seems to have adopted as their own in every piece of furniture it’s possible with. Even the wall has some fancy shapes on it. Or, well, what was fancy back in this year.

“This is about as far as I can go,” Mary says. “Richard and I share a lot, but beyond this point I’m not allowed to go.”

She puts her hand on a white door with a small window on it. It’s dark on the other side of the room, and it seems like the only way to get in is by bypassing the security system. Tony tries to concentrate on the technology around him but he finds it’s rather hard to do so. Even when he reaches out his hand, the connection just isn’t as strong in this time as it is in his own.

“What are you doing?” Mary asks.

“Trying to hack in,” Tony explains without opening his eyes.

“Well, hurry up, I think there’s a security guard heading this way.”

Tony shushes her, unable to concentrate with her talking like this. He just needs to find a connection with the network and after that things should be fine. He grits his teeth together in annoyance.

“Tony, seriously, what are you doing?” Mary urges him on. Tony taps his head.

“My brain’s like a computer now. Just trying to make a connection,” he explains curtly. He squeezes his eyes shut while he tries to go through the last bit of effort. It’s almost like there’s a ‘ding’ going in his head when he succeeds.

The first thing he reaches out for, ignoring many passwords in the process, is going for the security cameras. Just so he an get a view of the entire building, which comes in rather handing, really, since at least that way he’s prepared when he hears the door open. Immediately he jumps out of sight, letting the suit surround him and putting it on stealth mode. Then he hovers into the air, high enough so that the man entering can’t see him.

“Mrs. Parker? I didn’t know you were in today?”

Tony grits his teeth together upon seeing Norman Osborn walking up to Mary, who turns to look at Tony and finds that he’s no longer here.

“I, uh-“ she starts.

“Did your husband forget something here?” Oh, the way Norman talks is just so supposedly innocent, but Tony knows enough about him to spot his selfishness from miles away. He’s heard the entire story from Harry already, and his respect for Norman Osborn hasn’t gotten any bigger for it.

Norman just looks so young back here. To Tony, he died years ago, leaving his son with a terrible, uncurable sickness. He’d been grey and faded as far as Tony could remember. Here, he looks good, still. Well enough not to need tons of make-up to hide away the degeneration of his body. His reddish-brown hair neatly combed back, his chin cleanly shaven.

“Yes, he did,” Mary manages to lie eventually, though she’s clearly still taken aback. She walks up to where Tony figures Richard’s desk should be. There she grabs a file. “He said that he would get it tomorrow but I needed to get out of the house for a bit and thought I could grab it.”

Her eyes go back up to where Tony is hovering, trying his hardest not to make a noise. It’s a blessing already that he managed to make the thrusters as soundless as possible. To anybody who wouldn’t know, it would seem like an old laptop is running – which would make it a modern laptop in this current year.

The twitch in her eyes seems to have caught Norman’s attention, who starts to turn around to see what Mary’s looking at. There’s a short moment of panic before Mary almost shouts it out and reaches for Norman’s arm.

“Harry! How is Harry doing? And Emily? Are they fine?”

Norman stops his movement, now instead staring at where Mary is touching him on the arm. Tony is pretty sure that he’s frowning, though he can only see his back. Good, Mary’s making sure that he’s not turning around.

“Harry’s doing great,” Norman says, and that is again a lie. By now Tony knows that Harry has been kicked out of his school again and is at the verge of being sent to Peter’s school. Which would start the inevitable friendship between the two of them. “Though Em and I are not so sure private school is the best choice for him.”

“Well, we’re rather happy with Peter’s school. I’m sure Harry would like it there. Maybe they could even become friends?”

Norman is silent, still and Mary shifts on her feet. Tony is extremely sure that she’s nervous but she doesn’t appear to be. Damn, she’s a good actress.

“That could be possible, yes,” Norman then says. He clears his throat then and loosens his shoulders a bit. “Anyway, I must be getting back. I was on my way home when I saw the lights were on. Can I walk you out?”

Norman holds out his arm like any gentleman would do. The bastard.

“No, that’s alright,” Mary quickly says. She taps the computer gently. “I’m going to back up some of Richard’s logs since I’m here anyway. I’ll lock up when I get out.”

“Alright, then. Give your husband my best, and tell him I’m rooting for any results he manages to come up with.”

“Will do, see you soon.”

And with that, Norman finally heads out. Though, in his way out, he manages to glance upwards to where Tony had been, but he’d been smart enough to move the moment Norman mentioned leaving. All the guy sees is an empty ceiling, so he walks out the door without any other question asked.

Once they’re sure they’re alone Tony heads back down. He removes the suit soundlessly, though is extremely aware that Mary is staring at him with wide eyes.

“What was that?” she asks, sounding a bit breathless. Tony shakes his head, blinking his eyes once and with that opening the locked door to the secure lab.

“Tech from my year,” he says before nodding to the now accessible room. “C’mon, we shouldn’t waste time. He could come back any second.”

“No, seriously Tony, have you turned yourself into a robot?” Her mouth drops open. “Have you been a robot all along? Does Peter have it, too?”

“What?! No!” Tony taps his head then. “I’m human, as much as you are. It’s just a suit that’s stored inside my bones and comes out when I tell it to.”

“Doesn’t that hurt?”

Tony stays silent, which he figures should be answer enough. Of course it hurts, but not as much as it did before. Back then, it had nearly been agony to let out the suit. Now, it’s easier, just a little sting like having a couple of needles pressed into his skin at the same time. He shouldn’t complain too much about it.

“What happened to you that changed you so much?”

And that makes Tony stand still. His mind wanders back to the Mary he met once in that alternate universe Mordo sent him to. The one where he married Mary before Peter was born. The one where his kids hated him, where he was a cheating husband who didn’t love his wife anymore, but didn’t want to get divorced because that would ruin his name.

A man exactly like his own father.

And back in that universe, he hadn’t been Iron Man. There hadn’t been any word of him, just his weapons. That version of him hadn’t seen what Tony has seen.

“I got my eyes opened,” Tony says truthfully. He turns to smile at her, sadly. “I wish I could tell you everything but so much has happened.”

“You can’t tell me anything,” Mary states. “That would be dangerous.”

Tony doesn’t answer, instead starting up the lights in the room as he tries to look around.

“Except, it wouldn’t matter, would it?”

Tony turns around in confusion, seeing the pensive look on Mary’s face. He’s about to ask what she means when she continues.

“You saw the message. That’s how you found out about Peter. He wouldn’t have been able to know, otherwise. Which then would mean that I would be dead, wouldn’t it?”

There’s even more silence from him. He doesn’t want to lie to her, but he can’t tell her the truth. Staying quiet is the best option here.

“When?”

“Mary…”

“When, Tony?!” she urges on, raising her voice. Tony bites his lips together and looks down.

“In a few days, maybe?”

And Mary’s hand go down to her stomach instinctively, tears showing up in her eyes. “No,” she mumbles out as she takes a step back, leaning against the wall. Tony wishes he could take it back, make sure she never finds out, but… it wouldn’t be fair. Nothing is fair. Mary should have lived, so did that idiot husband of hers. Peter should have had his parents.

“Then maybe it’s for the better I haven’t told anybody, yet,” she mutters.

“Told anybody what?”

“That I’m pregnant?”

And if that doesn’t make alarm-bells ring inside his mind, nothing else would. It’s like there’s a large ERROR-sign in front of his eyes, on all his thoughts. This can’t be, this can’t happen.

Mary must be seeing the expression on his face. Through her tears she starts shaking her head while reaching out her hands towards him.

“Whatever you’re about to tell me, don’t. I don’t need to know about it.”

There’s a shaking in her voice, her eyes not quite meeting his. The cold of the room seems to be reaching Tony, making him shiver on the spot.

“But-“ Tony starts, only for Mary to step forward and put her hands onto Tony’s mouth.

“But nothing. If it’s supposed to be the end for us, then so be it.”

“Peter deserves his parents,” he mumbles. This is probably exactly why Strange didn’t want him to go back here.

“Peter’ll know we love him very much.” Mary shifts her hands onto Tony’s cheeks, making him look up to her. “The Peter you told me about, that’s the Peter I want him to become. And stopping us from dying… who knows, maybe the balance will be shifted and somebody else dies in our stead. We can’t play with that.”

She leans forward to kiss his forehead before pulling him towards her, into a strong hug. Tony lets out a soft sob before nodding in agreement. Of course she’s right. She’s always right.

“Let’s just do what we came here to do before anybody else comes in, okay?”

“Okay.”

The two move towards what must be Richard’s workspace.

“You’ve been here before?” he asks. Mary shrugs.

“Not often. But it won’t take a genius to find out where the blood will be stored,” she returns with a wink. In the way she moves, it’s clear that there’s still a sadness in her. It’s quite normal, obviously. Still, Tony finds that he can’t remove his eyes from her.

The Tony from this time was still hopelessly in love with this woman at this point. He’d been trying to sleep it off with other women, but that never helped him. Instead, Tony got drunker, up to a point where alcohol didn’t seem to be doing the trick anymore.

He’s done some crazy shit to get his high. It’s also the reason he got himself admitted after a while. Or… well, that’s on Obey if he’s completely honest. That traitor has at least done one good thing for him, though surely he’ll find out it was for selfish reasons if Tony digs deep enough.

Mary makes a soft sound when she finds what they’re looking for. Pulling out the blood samples, she checks them over. They’re in vials with a red cap on it. After reading through the details written upon it she closes the fridge and puts the holder of the vials down on the table.

“There must be stuff for drawing blood around here,” she utters to herself as she starts looking around. Tony just shivers on the spot, blinking a few times before taking the vial into his own hand. The blood is a usual red, cold to the touch through the glass. In here is currently the stuff that’s killing Peter. It’s strange how this works. Tony has since long given up trying to find out the details about time travel. It’s a lost cause.

All that matters now is saving Peter.

“Shit, why does Richard have to be so messy all the time?” he hears Mary calls out in the background. Tony then finally drops the vials and figures he should help looking.

She’s right. Dick leaves quite a mess in his workspace, but Tony figures he’s quite the same on that part. It takes them about ten minutes to locate the set. There are needles, more vials, a clamping band and many more stuff.

“Alright, give me your arm,” Mary instructs once she’s collected everything and has taken place by a semi-empty desk. Tony gives it a once-over before shaking his head.

“My blood’s not a good idea,” he admits.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I’m not sure if… look, a few years ago I injected myself with nanites that now hold the suit inside of me. Parts of those nanites are also in my bloodstream. I just… I can’t risk Peter’s powers shifting because of that.”

Mary hesitates for a moment before she nods. Then she hands the materials to Tony. The needle has already been put into the holder, and about five vials are put at the ready. There’s some disinfectant wipes she rubs over her arm after she pokes around for a vein. With the help of the band she seems to find one that must be good enough.

“Alright, you just get that needle here,” she gestures right above the spot where an obvious blue vein is popping out already. “Don’t push the needle in too far, just… a few millimeters are enough.”

Tony nods, using the wipes to clean his hands before taking the needle between his fingers. He tries not to think too much about it, about how drawing blood isn’t that unfamiliar to him. Or rather, injecting something _into_ the bloodstream.

The needle pokes through Mary’s skin without trouble. Once he thinks he’s in deep enough he grabs the vial and pushes it into the holder. Once he sees it fill up a small smile comes up onto his lips. Mary, too, smiles for a bit.

It’s still sad, but at the same time it’s full of joy. This is them rescuing their son, after all.

Tony secures the needle while he switches the vials one by one, until he gets to the fifth. Before it’s completely filled he loosens the band, throwing it back into the box it came from. Mary, with her free hand, takes the other four vials and starts shaking them gently.

“I guess that one year of medicine you did really wasn’t for nothing,” Tony jokes. Mary shrugs.

“I wanted to help people, but I figured rather soon that this wasn’t the way I wanted to do it.” Once Tony’s removed the needle she grabs a tissue and presses it against the bleeding wound. Tony, meanwhile, goes to take a bandage to put on it.

He doesn’t speak when their hands touch. Doesn’t speak when her fingers actively reach out for him, surrounding his wrist. When she looks down she sighs.

“I’m really sorry, Tony,” she admits.

“What for?” he asks, though he has an idea what it’s actually about.

“For shutting you out. For never telling you about Peter.”

Tony nods. “I was bitter for a long time,” he admits. “There’s a lot you took away from me, Mary. His first words, his first steps. His first day of school… those are all things I really wish I could have been a part of.”

He then sighs.

“But I also know that the Tony from this time wouldn’t be ready for that responsibility. And I could pretend that I would change for him, but I’ve seen how it would be and it wasn’t pretty.”

Tony puts his hand on top of Mary’s before offering her a small smile.

“Things happened the way they did. Now we have this amazing son who actually loves me, rather than a son who hates my guts. I wouldn’t want to turn back time and meet him earlier because that became such a shitshow.”

“You’re a good man, Tony.” Mary looks down to the ground, hands pulling away from Tony’s to take the vials of blood. “The reason I shut you out wasn’t only because of Peter.”

“What was it, then?”

There’s more hesitation coming from the woman in front of him. When she raises her head again, her brown eyes are filled with tears.

“I realized I might have loved you, too,” she says as she grits her teeth together to fight back the tears. There’s a hollow chuckle coming out of her, her hand balling into a fist onto the table. “I was actually thinking about ending it with Richard. We weren’t exactly working out all that well, but…”

Tony doesn’t interrupt her as she struggles with her words.

“But I was scared, so I stayed with what I knew. And Richard apologized for that fight, and then Peter happened, and then… I figured it was just for the better like this.”

She wipes away the tears from her cheek before clearing her throat. Then she gets on her feet with the vials of blood in her hands. Nearing the holder of Richard’s samples, she makes to exchange them with quiet movements. Tony just watches from where he’s seated, figuring that this makes the job done, then. He should be safe to head on home, now.

Once Mary’s secured the samples into the fridge, Tony’s about to announce his leaving. That’s when Mary surprises him.

“You want to see him?”

That surprises Tony.

“Who, Richard?”

“No, silly, I mean Peter.”

There’s a hard lump in Tony’s throat. No word is going to escape through his mouth anymore. All he can manage is a quick nod before Mary starts cleaning up the place to make it look like nobody came there. She takes the vials of blood from Richard with her to dispose of them somewhere Richard won’t find them.

They leave Oscorp rather quickly. There’s no surprising addition of Norman or any other person from Oscorp. Traffic is still in full swing, despite the time. Tony has to admit that he’s practically jumping into his seat.

They have to be quiet when they arrive back at the Parkers’ home. Mary guides them inside, makes sure to close the door to her and Richard’s bedroom before gesturing towards him to get to what Tony suspects must be Peter’s room.

Yet he hesitates. He’s seen an infant-version of his son before – he has the eye of Agamotto to thank for that – but this is going to be something different. This is going to be the Peter he knows at a certain age where he doesn’t yet know about him. The Peter who is probably way too young to even know about Tony Stark in the first place.

Mary nears Peter first. She leans forward and kisses his forehead, making him squirm a bit in his sleep. For a moment, Tony fears that they woke him up, but when he sleeps on peacefully his heart stills a bit.

When he gets to take Mary’s place next to Peter, he reaches out his hand until it passes over Peter’s cheek, his hair, the back of his head. He’s so small, still so full of wonder. Not yet filled with so much sadness. This is the Peter Tony wished he had the chance of being for the rest of his life, but it’s not up to him to decide this.

“…mom?”

Tony startles when he hears the soft voice of his son. The kid is sitting up while rubbing his eyes, but once he notices Tony next to him his eyes widen.

“Mr. Tony Stark?” he asks in surprise. Tony’s mouth falls open. Mary just looks at their son proudly.

“You know about me?”

The kid nods eagerly, though not before trying to hide away a yawn.

“You’re like this super smart guy,” Peter returns. When he looks around for a bit he still seems a bit groggy. “I’m dreaming, right?”

Tony smiles, reaching out towards his son to put his hand behind the kid’s head again. Then he nods and leans forward to kiss Peter on the forehead.

“Sure you are, son,” Tony returns. When Peter reaches out to hug him, Tony indulges him without hesitation. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Never forget that, kiddo.”

Peter nods eagerly before pulling away and lying down again. Then he grabs one of the books that must have been under his pillow, and he puts it into Tony’s hand.

“Will you read this to me?” he asks. Tony looks down at the story about the little inventor who wants to invent a robot. Oh, the irony.

“Of course I will,” he returns. And Tony reads, starting from the beginning. He doesn’t get to the end because it only takes a few minutes or Peter to fall asleep. Not long after that, a light flash comes into the Parkers’ home. Once it’s gone, Tony Stark has disappeared and Mary heads back to her bedroom to go to sleep as well.


	6. Epilogue

With the night shifting back into the day, the first thing Tony Stark realizes is that it’s begun to rain. Standing in front of the old Parker-house, he looks up into the sky where he allows the drops to fall down on his face. A smile comes up.

He’s back. He did what was necessary to save his boy. And now he’ll go and see him.

“FRI, what’s the status right now?”

“ _Welcome back, sir. I lost you for a few hours.”_

Tony rolls his eyes, because that’s not an answer to his question. Giving the house another last glance he suits up and gets in the air as quickly as possible.

“ _Everybody’s still at the medical department of the Avengers Compound. Up until the last hour it wasn’t looking like Peter was going to make it to the evening.”_

“And now?”

_“I’m not sure. I sense he’s stabilizing in a way.”_

Tony grins once again, because that meant that it worked. He did it. He heads to the compound first thing, landing at the frond door. Some people walking outside startle at his sudden appearance. Tony ignores him as he removes the suit and starts running inside.

The way to medical bay is familiar. So are the people he comes across, each one looking more defeated than the other. It’s almost like they’re all at the verge of starting to apologize to him when they notice the glee on his face.

“Mr. Stark, sir, are you alright?” somebody asks. Tony nods and holds up his thumbs.

“Never been better.” Tony resumes his run to the point where he gets to the hallway in front of Peter’s room, where he can see Steve, May and Rhodey with Strange. May has her hand on her mouth and obvious tears in her eyes. Steve looks sad, while Rhodey full of disbelief. It’s the latter that notices Tony coming up their way.

“Tony? Where have you _been_?” he asks with a clear urgency in his voice. Steve seems to startle upon hearing his name. Once he sees Tony there as well it seems like he’s hesitating on going his way or staying where he is.

“Oh, you know, going back in time. Had a little chat with the mother of my son. Switched out some blood samples. The usual.” Tony waves off his own comment as if they’re not really that important. Now it’s Strange who looks like he’s just seen a ghost.

“You what?” he asks. “How?”

Tony looks down at his wrist where the watch Deadpool gave him used to be. He’s glad he thought of removing it before coming here. This watch should be locked away. Sure, he’s grateful for Wade’s help, but a person as instable as him shouldn’t have this on him.

“A good friend of Peter’s,” Tony says. Then he nods towards Peter’s room. “FRI tells me he’s stabilizing. Why are you all standing here looking sad? We should celebrate!”

All heads turn to the door as well. It’s closed, the blinds shut. It doesn’t take long for May to march towards it and burst it open. She couldn’t do it faster. Before anybody can say anything, she’s inside with her nephew. Strange hurries after her, along with Rhodey. Steve waits for a bit outside, a smug smile on his face while he reaches out his hand towards Tony.

“I knew you would fix it,” he tells him.

“I’m sorry, I should have called before I left,” Tony returns. Steve shakes his head. Pulling him into a hug, Tony lets his head rest on the man’s shoulder.

“You were worried. I don’t blame you.” Steve holds on for a few seconds more before pulling back. “Now, how about we go and check out how he’s doing?”

Tony nods, turning from Steve to head towards the door.

It’s time to see his son.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Two weeks later_

 

“So, you have a major in art, am I right?”

“Yes. I love art very much. It’s the complexity in things, but also the variety in it. Like, there are paintings in so many genres, but then there’s sculptures as well, and I love just finding the connections between the two of them.”

“Sounds intriguing. So you don’t exactly make art yourself?”

“I’m not exactly that talented, Mr. Stark.”

“Please, you’re dating my son. You get to call me Tony.”

Felicia smiles. So does Peter who looks at her like the proudest boyfriend in the world.

Tony’s had his doubts about Felicia. Especially since she seemed to just come into the picture when Peter had only just broken up with MJ. At first, he thought she was nothing more than a rebound girl for him, but with the way Peter is it would be a stretch, really.

Peter’s looking better, too. His hair is still thinned out and his cheeks still hollow. There are also dark circles under his eyes, but other than that he seems to be doing so much better. Nothing a few weeks at home can’t fix, after all.

“So, how did you two meet?” May asks. And now that’s a story Tony is curious about, too. To him, it seems like Felicia was somehow always there, no?

“ESU,” Peter answers, giving Felicia a fond look. “Johnny and I were lost, we didn’t know were to go. She showed us the way.”

Tony takes in the couple in front of him. Felicia is a young woman, about Peter’s age or maybe just a little bit older. She’s got long brown hair and flashing blue eyes. She has this specific kind of face that one wouldn’t exactly forget.

Next to him, Steve seems to be liking Felicia a lot. Being a lover for the arts as well, Steve seems to find himself an excellent conversation partner in Peter’s current girlfriend.

Tony’s not going to fool himself, he can’t be sure this is the girl Peter will one day decide to marry. He’s not exactly the luckiest with the ladies. At first, when the relationship with MJ had broken up, Tony had been waiting for the two to figure their shit out and get back together. When it later then turned out MJ moved on with a certain _Princess_ of Wakanda (aka Shuri, sister of T’Challa), Tony figures that even for his son having a love-life is complicated.

The rest of the dinner isn’t awkward at all. They get to know Felicia a lot better, and when it’s time for her to go home Peter walks her out. May and Rhodey also offer to give her a lift, which she accepts gratefully.

By the time it’s just the three of them again, Tony finds himself leaning against Steve on the couch with Peter’s head on his lap. They’re starting up the first Lord of the Rings, with no intention of finishing it since everybody’s just tired like crazy.

“I like her,” Steve eventually says while they’re watching the Hobbits having fun in what looks like a tavern.

“Yeah, so do I,” Peter jokes. Then he lets out a deep breath, like he’s hesitating on telling them something. It’s clear he eventually decides to keep his mouth shut, but now Tony finds himself curious as to what he was about to tell them.

Instead, he rolls onto his back so he can look at Tony with questioning brown eyes, face sad.

“What was she like?” he asks. Tony frowns.

“Who?” he returns. Peter shrugs.

“My mom… did she- did she seem nice? I don’t remember her that much…”

Tony lets his hand pass through Peter’s hair, fully aware that Steve is looking at him.

“Your mother loved you with every fiber in her being,” Tony assures him. “Everything she’s ever done is to keep you safe from any harm. And that includes keeping me away from you when I wasn’t that good in my head.”

Peter looks sad. Tony closes his eyes, wondering if he should tell him about it.

Steve doesn’t know if Peter should know. He doesn’t want Tony to keep things hidden from him, but just knowing it…

Tony doesn’t want to keep secrets from Peter anymore. Nothing.

“Your mother was pregnant,” he admits. Steve freezes next to him. Peter closes his eyes with a smile appearing on his lips.

“I knew,” he returns.

“How?”

“I found the pregnancy test in the trash and took it to school. When I later asked my teacher about it she told me what it was.”

“That’s nasty, Peter,” Tony says with a scrunched up face. Peter chuckles.

“I didn’t know back then that she peed on it.” Peter sighs before looking back at Tony. “Thanks for being honest with me, Dad.”

Tony smiles before leaning forward and kissing Peter’s forehead.

“I’ll always be honest to you,” he promises before grabbing Steve’s hand and kissing his knuckles as well. “Same to you.”

Steve doesn’t say anything. He just leans forward to kiss Tony’s cheek before resting his head on top of his. Silently, the three continue watching their move. Peter falls asleep before the first hour has passed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this chapter written the moment after I posted the previous one, but I kind of forgot about the fact that I didn't add this one to it immediately.   
> It's short, probably quick, but it has to end. I'm not sure if there'll be more stories in this verse soon. Caspinn and I are working on a final part that focuses on the events of Infinity War that happened in the Sweet Child of Mine-world, but we've got a lot of puzzling to do since there's so much of the movie we want to add to it. This also means that we've tweaked a bit of the happenings that were explained in 'Something about Peter'. The Timestamp 'A Parent's loss' also isn't relevant to the story anymore. 
> 
> If there's anything I've missed in this story, points that I brought up but forgot to address further, don't be afraid to point them out. Given the short hiatus this story has had, a few details might have escaped my mind. I hope it was pleasant enough to read, and stay tuned for the next story! :-)


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